Existentialism as a Darkstalker
by AztecMoogle
Summary: *Previously Untitled* Carlos Sera, finds a baby one day and decides to hold onto it for a while. But he quickly discovered that the baby isn't exactly human, well at least isn't exactly half human.
1. Chapter 1: Breakfast Burrito

_Chapter 1_: **Breakfast Burrito's**

"Thank you." I said as I handed my menu to the waiter who smiled, placed the menu under one arm and walked away.

"That's the fourth time you order that, you know." Shannon said as she sipped on her wine.

Shannon Keri was my fiancée. She was about five foot seven, five foot ten with the three inch heels she had on. Perfectly calculated, by her, to be half an inch shorter than me. Her slender body probably weighed 110 and 115 and looked perfect in the black dress she currently wore. Her long bleach hair shaded perfectly with her milky white skin and light blue eyes. She was obsessed with perfection and image. I didn't mind anymore as she would open her legs for me four or five times a week.

"So what? I like pepper jack chicken and Spanish rice." I replied defensively.

"It's boring, plus what would people say when they find out how predictable you were."

"They'd say something along the lines 'that's one classy and charming fellow' and go on with their lives."

"Doubt it."

"Why are we fighting?" I asked and drank some red wine. "It's Friday and tomorrow is Saturday and we don't have to wake up at five bloody thirty, if you get what I mean." I said and stirred the wine slowly, as Shannon trained me to do, and stared at her suggestively.

"Yes, that would be an adequate reason to celebrate." She replied and placed her slender hand over mine and stared seductively.

-0-

I mumbled the lyrics to the song Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborne as I stumbled with Shannon by my side.

"Why did you drink so much?" She asked as she held on to me.

"Why didn't you?" I asked. "You...you need to loosen up. You're always uptight and punctual...and... Whatever the word is for people who are uptight and punctual. Plus...we had like a quarter bottle left and stuff."

"It's wasn't a quarter bottle, it was a bottle and a half. Besides, there wasn't a reason in which we couldn't save the bottles for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow always sucks. Why isn't tomorrow here yet? It's never here. It's always here that is here and not tomorrow! Hey! Get over here, tomorrow! I don't got all day!"

"Oh God. This is why I should't allow you to drink when in public. Good thing that none of my friends are around to see this."

"Yeah good thing too... Because Mary...Mary is a bitch...I don't like Mary...she's too...aristoc...aristo...aristroraric..."

"Aristocratic?"

"Yeah that too."

We walked for another 20 minutes before we turned the corner and headed for my apartment.

"I'm still gonna get some, aren't I?" I asked as I sobered up enough to be stumbling by myself.

"No, not when you're drunk. You always pass out half way through and I have to finish by myself." She said as she walked besides me, exactly a quarter step behind me.

"I would want to see that." I replied.

"Maybe one day."

She helped me through the glass doors, after I hit them twice, and let me push the button for the fifth floor...and the fourth...and the third and the second after I pushed the basement.

I giggled as she sighed heavily when the elevator headed away from room 509.

"You're such a child." She sighed.

"You're such a child." I repeated in a mocking tone.

"Stop it!"

"Stop it."

-0-

I groaned awake and realized three things before I stood up. One: eleven glasses of red wine made for a big ass hangover. Two: eleven glasses of anything alcoholic probably wasn't that good for you. And three: the sun can be a bitch.

I grumbled as I stood up and stumbled before I held on to a wall for support. I made my way to the bathroom and stared at the new toothbrush and toothpaste that lay on my bathroom sink. Shannon must have placed them there after she came to the conclusion that I needed a new set.

The phone rang loudly which made me hold my hands up against my ears. The sound made my head pound and feel as if it was going to explode. Shannon must have raised the ringer before she left, to prove a point.

I made my way towards the phone and picked it up right as it stopped ringing and went to voicemail.

"Yo, it's Carlos Sera. Something, something, message after beep. Have fun." My machine said as it played the recorded message before beeping loudly.

"Carl, it's me Shannon. Its 10:54, I hope you're up. In fact, I'm pretty sure you are, but whatever. Call me when you can as we need to talk about the office, and I don't mean the show."

The phone call ended and I celebrated the silence by yawning and scratching my ass.

"My name isn't Carl..." I mumbled.

I dragged my feet on my way to the coffee pot and hit the ON button hard enough to move it a few inches back.

The coffee pot cracked and sizzled for a few seconds as I blankly stared at it.

Eight minutes later, I finished the last of the black coffee as I rinsed the Head and Shoulders off my short curly hair.

I slipped slightly on my way out of the shower and caught myself with the towel rack then sighed and wrapped a towel around myself then stared at the new change of clothing for a long while.

My vision shifted from the new set of neatly folded clothing and the old set lay on my bathroom floor. I decided on the old pair five minutes later.

It seemed stupid to take five minutes on deciding whether or not to put a new set of clothing on or not but Shannon surreptitiously controlled a large part of my life, not because she was my caretaker or anything but because I let her. It's not like I let her but she just forced herself onto me.

My old boxers, shirt and socks were damp but I kept them on to prove a point. To who though? Shannon? Myself? The Superman: Returns poster in my living room that she keeps bitching for me to take down?

I sighed after silently admitting that my fiancée controlled my life and grabbed my keys and walked out of the room then walked back in when I realized that I lacked exactly one pair of pants.

The line of the newspaper stand dispersed when they found out that all copies of the daily newspaper were sold out. The five foot six girl, that ran the stand, smiled and apologized to the displeased customers.

"Sorry." Elizabeth said politely as she smiled sheepishly to her unhappy customers.

Elizabeth was 24, five foot six, and average built. The kind of girl who was attractive even though her thighs touched. She wore a bright pink shirt and some pink sweatpants that showed off her curves. She was a one in a million girl, quite possibly too, as her long straw like red hair and the three to four dozen freckles on her face made her a ginger.

"Morning, Elizabeth." I said as I stepped closer and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Carlos. It looks like rain today." She said as she adjusted the copies of Time and set them in a slot on top of her.

I looked at the gray sky and smiled slightly. "That means that it'll be a good day today." I said and looked at the magazines.

"You are the only person I know that loves the rain." She said and handed me a hidden copy of the daily newspaper and an anime magazine that she pulled from underneath the counter.

"You are the best, Elizabeth. How much do I owe you?"

"Today, or are you talking about your tab?" She asked.

"Um... Today."

"Six fifty."

I pulled out my wallet and handed her a five dollar and two one dollar bills. She took the money and handed me two quarters.

"Turn them around." She said.

I flipped the coins and smiled when I saw the Arizona and Mount Rushmore designs on back the quarters.

"I needed these two!" I said, a little louder than I should have.

"A customer paid with them a few minutes ago and I decided to hold them for you." She said.

"Elizabeth, I love you, don't tell Shannon that though." I replied.

"Why are you still with that punctual woman?" She asked as her face shifted to more of an annoyed look.

"Beats the hell out of me." I said and folded up the newspaper and anime magazine then placed them under my arm. "Imma go to get some breakfast, do you want anything?"

"Sure, just whatever you get."

"Credit?"

"Yeah, yeah... I'll pull it off your tab. Get out of here, you're depressing my clientele." She said smiling again.

I laughed and waved goodbye with two fingers and made my way down the street and around the corner. I pulled out a pack of Marlboro Lights and placed the semi last cigarette into my mouth and lit it with my yellow BIC lighter, as the first of the rain started to fall.

I entered the small time Mexican food restaurant and wiped my feet on the mat.

"Welcome to- oh it's just Carlos, never mind." A man said arrogantly from behind the counter.

The man was probably about six foot one and weighed about 180. His jet black hair and tanned skin placed him into the Hispanic category, not unlike me.

"Manuel, you have exceptional customer service skills." I said sarcastically and stood by the counter as Manuel rung me up for two breakfast burritos and a large orchata.

"Customer service skills, tus nalgas, eleven sixty four, fool." He said. I smiled and handed over my debit card and he took it from me and slid it on the card reader. "Where's long legs?"

"Shannon? Who knows." I replied, taking back my debit card.

"Do you care?"

"No."

"Now you sound like a man. Who you should be doing is that freaky chick from Kinko's, son." He said and nudged me slightly.

"That puta is nothing but a puta." I replied.

"Hey, she's one freaky puta. She could do this thing with a coca cola bottle-" He started but I stopped him, some things are just better left to the imagination.

"Either way, I'm with 'Long Legs', who sometimes goes by the name of Shannon, and I'm happy." I said.

"Mmhmm" Shanelle, a slender black girl who worked as the cook today said as she dropped the burritos into a bag. "Now I don't know what a puta is, or whatever all that Spanish-Mexican mess is...but that girl isn't right. She too up herself. I mean, I know you like the light meat but she isn't all that. I'd get the girls to pop her upside the head if you wanted me to Carlos."

"Thanks, Shanelle. I'll keep that in mind." I replied and took my food. But I'm happily taken and am going to be married soon, happily married I might add."

"So why you buying a burrito for newspaper girl, Mr. Happily taken?" Shanelle asked.

"Oh snap!" Manuel said and high fived Shanelle. "You tell him, sister."

"You guys are dumb." I said and walked out with my food that was inside of a paper bag inside of a plastic bag.

It was hard to not think of what they said as I walked back. Was I really happy? And if so, why was I bringing food for a girl who wasn't going to be my wife soon. Why did I uselessly buy newspapers and magazines that I never read, simply to talk to Elizabeth?

My musings were interrupted when I heard a baby crying. I looked around but the few people who walked by with umbrellas and either talked into the phone or was too busy paying attention to something or someone else.

I shrugged and kept walking in the rain until I passed an alley. The crying grew louder as I walked by so I stepped back and saw a hooded figure hunching over something.

"Hello?" I asked and jumped when the figure quickly turned and saw me.

I wasn't able to make out any of the person's features before he/she hissed and ran towards the wall and, to my surprise, right up it.

I stared at the creature as it climbed up the wall on all fours on reverse until it disappeared into the other side of the roof of the building as my mind raced to understand what happened just now but got interrupted when a baby cried again.

I looked down and saw what looked like a crib. An orange blanket covered the figure entirely. The loud cry was muffled under the blanket as I picked up the crib.

I held the crib with my right hand and gently unwrapped the blanket off the figure.

"Holy shit..." I mumbled as I saw a baby girl that was covered with a one piece suit. It covered her entirely, from head to toe. Her hands were inside of some gloves that we're attached to the baby clothing and her feet were inside of some baby booties. Her head was covered with the exception of her face with a warm hoodie.

She cried loudly then stopped when she felt the rain fall on her face. She stopped and opened her eyes then stared at me curiously.

"Hi baby." I said and smiled widely.

The baby stared at me before crying loudly again.

"Yeah, I feel that way too when I look into the mirror..." I mumbled and looked around for the figure that climbed the wall.

I sighed when I didn't see anyone then placed the food I carried into the crib next to the baby girl and pulled out my phone.

I dialed Shannon at her work phone then hung up the call. She would, undoubtedly, tell me to leave the baby alone and let some other passerby figure out what to do.

I placed the crib on the floor and used my umbrella to cover both the baby and me as I searched for the number to CPS (Child Protection Services) then finally hit call button when my mobile browser found the number.

The phone rang and rang for at least two minutes before someone answered.

"Hello? CPS?" I asked. "I found a baby in the-"

"Hello, you have reached the offices of the Child Protection Services." The message machine on the other side said. "You have reached us after hours and will open on my day at 9am Monday morning. Please contact us then, for any emergencies please hang up and call 911."

I sighed and closed the phone then stared at the baby. She was still crying.

"What was wrong with you?" I asked. "Are you hungry? Sad?"

The baby still cried as I scratched my arm slightly with my cell phone. A few people talked loudly as a thunder bolt hit somewhere off into the distance. I put my cell phone in my pocket and picked up the crib.

"Fuck it, I'm taking you home." I said.

The baby stopped crying and stared at me.

"You like that idea right?" I said. "Yeah it's warmer than out here, I'll tell you that."

The baby looked as she was going to cry again.

"Shit, no don't cry." I said as I started walking out of the alley.

The baby smiled and giggled slightly as she tried clapping her hands.

"You like it when I cuz?" I asked and stared at the attentive baby. "Let's go home." the baby started coughing and began to cry. "Fuck man..."

She giggled as I walked towards home.

-0-

Took you long enough, Carlos. What's that?" Elizabeth asked as she looked at me while she hurried to close shop.

"Shh, well... You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said as I helped her push the folding sheet of wood with my hip.

The baby was fast asleep after a long round of swearing. She especially liked the a-hole word.

"Holy crap... Are they giving out babies in the burrito shop?" Elizabeth asked when she saw the baby inside of the crib.

"Yup," I said playfully. "When you buy two combo's."

"You're funny." She replied and caressed the baby.

"Want to come up to my apartment and help me set her in?" I asked.

"You're keeping her?" Elizabeth asked.

"At least until Monday when I can call CPS." I replied and started walking into the building that houses my apartment in the fifth floor. "Plus, Shannon wouldn't let me keep her."

She made a type of whipping noise which made me smile. I shoved her slightly with my elbow and she laughed out and pushed me back with her hip.

Elizabeth cleared out the table and I placed the crib on top of it. I rubbed my hands together to try warming up and glanced at my answering machine. The little red LED indicator said that I now have three messages. I had one when I left so that meant that Shannon must have called me at least two more times.

"Her clothing is wet; let me take them off to change her." Elizabeth said as she began to unhook the baby's clothing. "What are you going to call her? I mean at least until Monday. I doubt you'll want to keep addressing her as Baby."

"I don't know, you pick something." I said and drank a quarter gallon of orange juice from the bottle as I stood by the refrigerator.

"Call her Sarah. My sister's name was Sarah." Elizabeth said.

"Your living sister or the other one?" I asked. I knew that she has a sister and two brothers as well as a sister that died after she was hit by a hit and run when she was 12.

"The one I visit once or twice a year." She replied.

"Okay." I said and lit a cigarette.

"You smoke?" Elizabeth asked, curiously.

"Only when I'm stressed." I replied and tried blowing smoke rings like I used to be able to.

"Stressed? So now and whenever you spend more than 15 minutes with your girlfriend, right?" She asked as she loosened the hoodie.

"That would be it." I said. "I'm kinda getting tired of-"

"Holy shit, dude, look at this." Elizabeth interrupted.

I threw my cigarette out of the window and walked over then gasped when I saw a small pair of cat ears protruded out of her baby head.

"The fu-" I started then realized that my jaw was opened as her ears started flickering as if to indicate that they were real. Sarah opened her eyes and stared at us.

"Are those...cat...ears?" She asked as Sarah, the baby, stared back at her curiously.

"So is she a person or a pet? I'm confused." I said and held her right cat ear between my thumb and index finger.

"You're confused? I wonder if she has a tail." Elizabeth said and began to remove the rest of the one piece suit.

I was going to stop her but I was curious too. So I decided to bite into my breakfast burrito and watch her as Elizabeth changed her diaper. A cat tail extended slowly, from where it was held by the baby clothes, and waved slowly.

-0-

30 minutes later, Elizabeth changed Sarah's diaper as I was sent out to buy a new set of baby clothes. I saw her holding Sarah up and smiled, despite myself. Sarah: the only baby in the world with cat ears and a cat tail.

"So how's the little animal human thing doing? Did she meow yet?" I asked as I walked closer.

"No, she's a person. She just has animal parts." Elizabeth said. "Oh your wife-to-be called... I've never heard more use of the F word in my life."

"Yay..." I said sarcastically and erased all the messages on the recording device.

"Looks to like you're getting tired of her." Elizabeth said and rocked Sarah on her arms. Sarah's tail slowly wrapped around Elizabeth's arm.

"Yeah... She's just so..." I started but couldn't think of the word. Sarah blew a loud raspberry then giggled loudly. "Yeah, that works." I said and walked up to Elizabeth and Sarah then held Sarah's baby hand in mine.

"So what do we do with her?" Elizabeth asked.

"We feed her? What do babies eat? Some of that glass mushy crap right?" I asked and pulled out a small baby food bottle from the coverts.

"Why do you have baby food in your coverts?" Elizabeth asked as Sarah looked around the room attentively.

"Mrs. Smith, next door, ran out of cabinet room a month ago and asked me if I could hold into a few things. She gave me a few cans of baby food but forgot about this one." I said.

I got the smallest spoon I had and stuck it into the baby food jar then handed it to Elizabeth.

She made baby noises and she tried feeding Sarah who hesitated then finally opened her mouth and swallowed the food then giggled once.

"Sweet!" Elizabeth said.

"Why?" I asked as Sarah ate another spoon full.

"I was wondering if she was going to eat people food or of we were going to have to go out for kitten milk." She replied.

I chuckled and watched the baby eat some more.

We continued feeding Sarah until she ate enough then fell asleep, her cat ears folded closer to her head as her tail stopped waving. Elizabeth made an awe noise and I smiled. We looked at each other, proud of what we did. I let my smile fade as we both moved in closer for a kiss.

I heard my apartment door open and Elizabeth and I turned around and saw Shannon walk in. She had a furious look on her face then lost all the color on her face when she saw Elizabeth and me.

"What the fuck are you doing, Carl." She asked as she slammed the door closed.

I tried seeing the situation through her eyes and came to the conclusion that her seeing her fiancé and another woman in the apartment probably wasn't a good sign.

"Keep your voice down." I said, knowing that it would piss her off but I hated being yelled at and called Carl.

"Keep my voice down!" She continued. "I've been calling you all day! And I come over and find you here with...with...this bitch!"

Elizabeth gasped and looked at her but I stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Shannon, calm down, it's-" I started.

"Calm down? How could I calm down when I come over and find my fiancé in his apartment with another woman?" Shannon asked as her face now beamed red.

"HEY!" I yelled which made both the women jump slightly. "Listen! It's not what you think it is."

"Oh yeah so tell me what you and slutty Mcslutslut were just doing?" She asked annoyed.

"Don't you fucking dare call me a slut!" Elizabeth said and stood up.

"What else am I going to call you, Mcslutslut?" Shannon said. "You in here with my fiancé and have done things that I could only imagine."

"You...oh he'll no, imma break your ass in a minute." Elizabeth said.

I stopped her again then sighed loudly. "Shannon, she is my friend and you're not to call her anything like that again, okay? Now apologize." I said.

"No! I think that she needs to apologize to me, Carl." Shannon said.

"His name isn't 'Carl', its Carlos." Elizabeth said.

"He doesn't mind, do you Carl." Shannon said, more as a statement than a question.

"Actually I do, don't call me Carl again." I said and looked back at Sarah who was still fast asleep.

"Whatever. You two do what you want, Carl this is over." She said and took off the ring and dropped it then opened the door. "Have fun with Mcslutslut, Carl." She added then slammed the door.

Elizabeth growled with rage then calmed down when she saw me actually smiling.

"Carlos, are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine, better than fine actually!" I said smiling then bear hugged Elizabeth without wanting to.

She cried out as I playfully shook her this way and that.


	2. Chapter 2: Darkstalkers

_Chapter 2_: **Darkstalkers**

Sunday came around and I awoke to the sound of crying for the second time that night. I groaned as I rolled out of bed andI forgot to catch myself so I hit the carpeted floor, head first.

"¡Puta madre!" I hissed and forced myself up.

The battery clock, that Shannon gave me, read 5:36 in the morning, as it lay sideways inside of the trash can by my dresser.

I went into the other side of my bed and rolled Sarah over, who had been sleeping face down. I rocked her in my arms and made hushing noises as I stared at her cat ears that had been slowly drooping and lay on her head as her tail, that had been erect when I picked her up, now hung motionless.

"I'd make a good dad." I said and placed her back onto my bed.

I went onto the other side of my bed and lay back down then wrapped my arm around Sarah as I didn't have a crib so there was no real way of stopping her from falling over.

-0-

Knocking came from my door. I ignored it for about five minutes before it became annoying. I slowly stood up and walked to my door. The trashed clock read 6:46 in the morning and I groaned then walked to the front door then fumbled the door opened.

My she neighbor stood outside and held a box. She spoke broken English. She was from El Salvador so she spoke Castilian instead of Spanish but the languages are more or less the same so we could understand each other.

She married an American man so her name was Socorro Smith. The gist of the conversation was: she and her husband were going to her home country for a month and she had some food and stuff that would go bad so she wanted to see if I wanted any. She added some baby food when I explained about Sarah, I left out the parts of her having and animal tail and ears.

"Para la niña, Carlos. Decirme lo que le hizo a mi regreso.¿Ves?" She said and hugged me.

It took me a second to recognize what she said but I agreed to tell her what I would end up doing.

"Vea usted cuando regrese, Carlos." She said as she walked down the hall and back into her apartment.

I walked in and put the box on my couch and headed back to bed when someone knocked on my door again.

I sighed and opened the door.

"Se le olvido algo, seño-" I started but stopped myself when Elizabeth rocket her ginger head to the side.

"Que?" She asked with an American accent.

"Nothing... What's up? It's a little early, don't you think." I said and rubbed my eyes.

"Early, Carlos it's almost 9." She said and looked at her Yogi Bear watch.

"My clock says..." I started and turned around and saw my living room clock. "...9:32... Awe crap..." I said as I remembered the trashed clock in my room. The battery must have fell off.

"You're funny. How's Sarah?" She asked.

"Good. Sleeping in my bed." I said.

She began to say something then stopped. "Cool, I'm in my stall so tell me if you need anything okay?"

"You got it." I said and waved goodbye as she headed down the hall.

I closed the door and scratched my stomach then went back to bed.

-0-

I awoke around 11 as something tickled my nose. I stared at Sarah's tail as it waved back and forward as she slept. I smiled and briefly considered biting it but overcame that thought.

I threw on the same clothing I had on yesterday and the day before then decided to change them so I took them off and put some new ones on.

"Carlos!" Elizabeth said as I walked up towards the stand. "What are you doing here? Where's Sarah?"

"Relax. She's asleep. I just came for my usual and some coffee." I said and took the newspaper that she held for me.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" She asked and gave me back my change.

"Of course. I'm a responsible parent." I said and pulled out my cellphone that had an active call to my home phone. "I have my landline next to her so if something is to happen, I can simply run back there."

"But she slept in your bed, are you sure that she won't roll over?" She asked as she charged out another customer.

"I put pillows next to her, she'll be fine." I said and opened the newspaper to the Garfield comic.

"Okay..." She said. "You should head back up there as soon as you can, didn't you ever see Paranormal Activity 2?"

"The one with the baby?" I asked. "Yeah... But that isn't the same."

"How's that?"

"Sarah isn't being chased by a demon. The baby in the movie probably didn't have cat ears...and claws."

"Claws?"

I lifted my shirt and showed the light scratch marks on my midsection.

Elizabeth stared, wide eyed, and traced the scratches with her nails. "She kicked your ass." She said.

"Yup. I'll be back." I said and walked off after saying bye to Elizabeth.

It took about five minutes for me to buy some coffee and headed back towards my apartment as I heard talking. I looked at my phone and heard voices coming though it. I took it off speaker and held it up to my ear as I heard voices as I crossed the street back towards my apartment.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked as she saw me on the phone.

I held a finger out to her as she sold a time magazine to an elderly man. "I hear voices." I said and put the phone on speaker again.

The distant voices continued and we stood in silence.

"Could she actually be chased by a demon?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't think so. It's probably the people in the hallway." I said then froze when I heard Sarah giggling. I immediately thought about the scene in Paranormal Activity 2 where the baby coo'd and giggled while looking at what was supposed to be the demon that was coming for him.

I had a bad feeling course through me and I headed inside with Elizabeth on my heels after she put a "Back in 5" sign.

I pushed the button on the elevator several times as I bounced slightly impatiently.

"Fuck it." I said and ran up to the side and threw opened the door for the stairs.

I took the stairs two at a time at first then individually as my legs got tired really fast.

"I...need...to get...back in...shape..." I gasped as I reached the forth floor.

I took the last flight of stairs as fast as I could and bent down as I gasped for air loudly. I opened the door that lead into the corridor of the fifth floor and took a step out then felt stupid as Elizabeth stepped out of the elevator that just made it up.

"Do you feel proud of yourself now?" She asked and crossed her arms.

"Shut up." I gasped and walked to my apartment and fumbled for my keys as my vision slowly focused. The silver key, with the 66 engraved on it, turned and I opened the door. I turned to look at my bed and didn't see Sarah so I started at the door but stopped when something pulled on my shirt. I turned around and saw Elizabeth pointing at something in the living room. I turned and smiled when I saw Sarah sitting on the couch with both hands on the remote control and watching tv. She giggled as an old Animaniacs cartoon was going on.

"Good idea: Stopping to smell a rose." The announcer on the tv said as a stick figure man walked down a street and stopped to smell a rose. "Bad idea: stopping to feel a rose." The stick figure man walked down the street again but he took hold of the rose this time. A stinging sound effect came on and the mans stick figure hand expanded and turned red as he let go of the rose and ran down the street.

I sighed loudly as Sarah giggled a the stick figured man. "One day with this baby and I'm already worrying like a dad..." I said.

"How did she get up there?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

I began to reply then noticed the pillows that were piled on the side of the couch. "She must have climbed these." I said.

"Hmm..." Elizabeth said and looked out my window. "Imma head back to my stall, people are lining up."

"Okay, come up when you close it." I said.

"Okay!" She yelled as she ran down the hall.

"What am I going to do with you." I asked.

She giggled again as the cartoon continued. "This is a good idea though." I said and lay behind Sarah and watched the cartoon with her.

-0-

I borrowed a stroller from Mrs. Smith, as she wasn't going to use it, as Elizabeth and I walked through the park.

"So tell me about yourself." She asked as a pair of older women walked by and made baby noises at Sarah.

"What do you want to know?" I asked as I pushed the stroller.

"What do you do for fun? Who are your friends? Where did you grow up?"

"I normally just stay in my apartment most of the time and watch whatever's on. Most of my friends don't really talk to me as Shannon badmouthed their girlfriends. I grew up in LA. Until I was 17 then moved here with my parents and moved oh when I was 23. Had three girlfriends, two actually. Shannon and I got together then broke up then dated someone else then got back together and broke up again, yesterday."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Why?"

"She saw you with me. That's never going to look good in a woman's eyes. Any woman would have been hurt and angry."

"Not you."

"Well, I would have waited for an explanation first. Girly was too irrational and jumped to conclusions."

"She was like that for everything."

"Really?"

"She thought I was cheating on her a few months ago."

"Were you?"

"What do you think?"

"No..."

"Mmhmm."

"So what happened then? Did you have another ginger in your apartment as you checked up on a baby with cat parts?"

A woman passed by and stared at Elizabeth as she heard what she was saying. The woman kept walking and we both laughed.

"No, my parents came over from LA and surprised me. My father walked out to smoke and my mother sat with me as we talked in the living room. Shannon let herself into my apartment, as I left it unlocked so my father could come in when he wanted. So..."

"Girly thought that you were cheating on her with your mom?" Elizabeth asked as Sarah yawned.

"Yup. She dumped me then, too. It took a few days but she came back and we got back together after I explained.

"She is insane!" Elizabeth said as a man jogged by with a golden retriever on a leash. He checked Elizabeth out as he ran by, I wasn't sure if she noticed.

"Yup."

"Will you take her back if she asks you to?"

"Why are you so interested in my life?" I asked curiously.

"It's interesting, that's all. My life is nothing but home and newspaper stand, home and newspaper stand, home and newspaper stand. I don't ever go out. I've never been with a guys, I've never even gotten laid, oops!" She said and covered her mouth as her eyes widened as though she said something that she didn't want to.

"'You've never gotten laid?'" I repeated.

Elizabeth face became as red as her hair. She seemed like she would cry as that was something that she never wanted anyone to know. She looked as if she wanted to run away, but stared at me as I laughed. Not at her, not at what she said but because of the situation.

"You're such a dork!" I said and continued walking but wrapped an arm around her then held her close.

"Oh my God... I didn't mean to say that, I... I mean I thought it but I didn't think I would actually say it... Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed..." She said as she covered her face with her hands.

"It's cool, don't worry about it. Only me and Sarah know, and I won't say anything. I'm not sure if Sarah will though, will you Sarah?" I asked playfully as Sarah snored lightly as she fell asleep. She kicked once and moved her head to one side.

"She is so cute!" Elizabeth said as her face turned back to its milky white.

"She is... What would you say if... No never mind..." I started.

"No what?"

"Nothing, it's stupid."

"No, what? Tell me. I told you about...my situation." She continued and swung her arms around in circles.

"You're going to laugh."

"No I'm not, well I might but not laugh at you."

"...I'm thinking of keeping her... She's grown on me."

Elizabeth stared at me seriously. "Carlos... You just can't keep her, she's not an animal..."

"Umm..." I suggested and pointed at her hoody that covered the cat ears underneath.

"Okay, she's not fully animal. You can't just say 'imma keep you, you're my responsibility for now on' and expect that nobody will just let you keep her."

"That's why I said 'never mind'."

"Well it's a good idea, I mean she seems to like you too, but I don't think that you'll just be able to keep her."

"I know. Oh by the way, the answer is no."

"Huh?"

"To the question you asked earlier, the answer is no."

She thought about it for a second then nodded. "Good. You deserve better."

I smiled and hugged her again with one arm then let her go as a boy ran by with a paper plane in his hand. He made propellor noises with his lips as he passed by. A girl and two boys ran after him as they laughed and yelled things.

Elizabeth simply smiled and stared longingly at the kids. "I would like a family. I'm getting old." She said.

"Yeah and your situation isn't helping." I laughed out.

She smacked her lips and shoved me lightly.

-0-

We got back to my apartment and Elizabeth took Sarah into the bathroom to change her. I just sat on the couch as someone knocked on the door.

I groaned and stood back up as Elizabeth closed the bathroom door. I opened the entrance door and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Shannon standing there.

"Well..." She asked as she crossed her arms.

"'Well' what?" I asked, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Why haven't you called me so you could apologize?" She asked as she tried pushing passed me but I stopped her and held my hand out to block her from entering.

"Aren't you going to me in? I don't want anyone to see you apologizing to me out here." She replied and tried passing again then stared at me when I didn't let her through. "Carl, what are you doing?"

"I'm not going to apologize, Shannon. I didn't do anything. You're the one that should be apologizing to me."

"For what? I didn't do anything wrong, Carl."

"I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Carlos, not Carl."

"You were angry when you said that, you didn't mean it, now let me in."

"I wasn't angry then, but I am now. And no Ms. Keri I will not let you in. You're no longer welcomed into my place of residence since you broke off the engagement, again."

"I was angry, and what do you mean 'Ms. Keri' what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" I asked. "What's wrong with you? You're all acting like you're all high and mighty. I don't need this, okay. Imma ask you once, Ms. Keri: Leave my place of residence."

"Carlos, what are you...are you saying that you don't want me to marry you?" She asked and gave me that look she gives me. The same look that she knows that she could get me to do anything she wanted.

I wanted to say that I was sorry, that I didn't mean it. But I didn't. I didn't say it as I wasn't sorry, I did mean it. "What is wrong with you?" I asked. "You come up here and expect an apology from me for something I didn't do. You think you're always right and everyone else is wrong. You expect me to just...take you back? After you insult me and my friend? After you call me unfaithful when you know, perfectly well, that I would never do that."

"All men cheat on their wives and girlfriends, Carl...os... Carlos."

"Well I'm not 'all men'." I said and began closing the door. "We're done, Shannon. Not because you want it to be but because I do. I'm quitting too. I don't want you in my life in any way. Please leave."

"But..." Shannon began as I closed the door and locked it. I also hung the two chains that enforced it. "Carlos... Please! I'm...i'm sorry. I'm sorry, Carlos." She said as she banged on the door. "For whatever I did, I'm sorry. Don't do this! I love you."

I didn't reply as she continued banging on the door. My heart beat rapidly and I fought the urge to just open the door and take her back. But I knew that I would never be happy with her. That I would always fold and do as she says and always be worried about "what other's will say" and "what I should have done". I slowly walked alway as she fumbled for her keys and opened the door but the chains only let it open partially.

"Please, Carlos, I won't call you Carl anymore. I'm sorry."

"No you're not!" I yelled. "No you are not. This is just another way for you...to get what you want. What you fucking want!" I slammed my palm into the wall space in front of the door. "You always get what you want. You either lie or cry or complain and I normally give in but not this time. We're doing what I want. What I want to do, and What I want...what I want...is for you to leave me alone."

"Oh I get it, you want your space. Yes that's it. I'll leave you alone for a week or so and call you then we could work it out. That sounds fine to me." She said quickly.

"How about...I'll call you when I'm ready to get back together." I suggested as I didn't have any intention on doing either.

"Okay." She said and sniffed. "I guess I'll just wait for your call then."

"...Yeah..." I said and closed the door again and began walking away again.

"Okay then... I'll just wait for your call." She said in a low voice and I heard her heels click as she walked away.

I slowly walked back into the room as I felt terrible. Breakups are never easy, I've been through my own share of them. I stared at my phone and contemplated on ripping it out of the wall, to blow off some steam, then flinched when someone wrapped their hands around me.

I turned and thought I would see Shannon as she had found a way into my apartment but instead I stared at the top of some stringy red hair. I looked down slightly and saw Elizabeth's freckled face. Her milky white skin was covered in who knows how many freckles. 20? 30? 40? I didn't know. Somehow, that thought brought me back. Brought me back from my dark place and into my apartment that didn't have Shannon in it. Not anymore. Instead it had the ginger, Elizabeth, and the girl with cat ears, Sarah.

"I..." I started but stopped when she shushed me.

She leaned on her tip toes and kissed me quickly then pulled back and stared at me. She kissed me again but held it longer this time before stopping to stare at me. She leaned in again and I took hold of the back of her head and kissed her, languidly and passionately. I pushed her back up against the wall and never even removed my lips from hers. She hit the wall back first and a picture jumped from the wall and broke on the floor, I didn't care, as I kissed her wildly. I sat her on top of my TV set and placed my hands on her hips when Sarah started crying.

We both stopped and looked at the bathroom.

"Oh my God, I left her in the tub!" She yelled out and jumped off the TV set and ran into the bathroom with me on her heels.

Sarah lay on the tub with about three inches of warm water, she lay face up and kicked as she cried. Elizabeth made hushing noises as she got on her knees and picked the baby up. Her cat ears where streight up in the air as her tail was motionless as she cried.

I came closer and Elizabeth handed Sarah over. I had her in my arms and rocked her playfully.

"I've got an idea." I said as she crossed her left arm across her chest and held the other one on her mouth as she began to sniff. "Sarah, Sarah, stop crying, stop fucking crying." I said softly." After a barrage of swear words, in English and in Spanish, she stared at me with a surprised expression. I made a face and she giggled as her tail wrapped around my arm.

"I'm so sorry, Carlos. I completely forgot that I left her there. I was bathing her and then I heard you yelling at Shannon..." She said and wiped some tears from her eyes.

"Hey, hey. Calm down." I said and wrapped an arm around her. "It's not your fault. You were trying to make me feel better. Plus Sarah is a lot smarter than that, aren't you Sarah?"

Sarah giggled and kicked playfully then took one foot in hand. She let it go and pointed at me with one baby finger and blew a raspberry.

I laughed loudly as Elizabeth chuckled. "See, I'm the dumb one, she said so herself."

"I'm sorry." She repeated.

"It's alright." I said as Sarah stared at us. "I...don't want to take her to CPS tomorrow, Elizabeth."

"I know how you feel... She grew on me too." Elizabeth replied and scratched one cat ear.

Sarah waited for Elizabeth to stop before both her ears shot up into the air and shifted slightly to listen to something from next door, where Mr and Mrs. Smith's empty apartment was.

"What's going on?" I asked and looked a Sarah who turned to stare at the tub wall.

"Cats do that when they hear a sudden sound." Elizabeth said.

"Cats huh?" I replied as I handed Sarah over to Elizabeth.

I walked out of the bathroom and took my keys then walked out of my apartment then made my way towards the next apartment on my left and fumbled through my keys. Mrs. Smith gave me a pair a while back, in case of something.

The door opened easily and I looked around while walking inside. Nothing was out of place and I couldn't see anything.

"Hello?" I asked and walked inside slowly. I looked around and walked into the hallway. This apartment was a mirror image of mine so it was weird seeing it.

I looked into the only bedroom and didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I closed the door.

I walked into the bathroom and turned the light on and didn't see anything until I looked at the end of the tub wall where, what looked like, a persons wearing a dark blue shirt and some tan pants finished merging through the wall.

My eyes widened as I tried making sense of what just happened. I heard Elizabeth scream and Sarah begin to cry as my mind came back into reality. I only flinched for a second then bolted out of the apartment, down the hall and into my living room. I made it down the hall and into the bathroom.

A man wearing a dark blue shirt and tab pants stood in the tub as she held Sarah.

"Carlos, he just appeared through the wall. He took Sarah from my arms." Elizabeth said, and I couldn't help but hear the motherly tone in her voice.

"Where did you come from?" I asked.

"That is the wrong question." He said in a smooth and collected voice.

"What?" I asked.

The man said something to Sarah, it wasn't baby talk or any language I've heard of, and I know Spanish, English, and some French.

Sarah stared then cooed in agreement the man said something that sounded like a question as he ignored Elizabeth and me.

Sarah stared then giggled.

"Okay..." The man said.

"Hey! Who are you?" I asked and not bothered to hide my curiosity.

He turned as if he barely remembered that we were there. "Hello, I am Kioril, who are you?"

"You come to my apartment and ask who I am?" I asked.

"Yes."

I stared in confusion then sighed. "I am Carlos, this is Elizabeth and that's... Our baby. Sarah."

Elizabeth turned to look at me but I ignored her.

"Your baby?" He asked curiously and looked at Sarah.

"Excuse me..." Elizabeth started. "Where you just talking to her?"

"You can't speak with a baby. It's impossible. Unless you use magic, do you use magic miss? You could help us if you do." He asked hopefully.

"No... I can't I'm sorry..." Elizabeth said.

"Oh... Well thanks anyway. So you're taking care of, what did you call her?" He asked.

"Sarah." I said.

"Sarah, yes, that is a pretty name."

"I'm sorry... But you asked her if she could use magic when you just passed through a wall..." I said.

"That wasn't magic." He said and stuck his hand through the shower wall. I felt someone poke me and I jumped then turned around when his hand was coming out of the wall next to me. He smiled when he saw me stare at his hand and made I wave at me.

"What the hell?" I yelled out.

"Again, the wrong question." He replied.

"How did you do that?" I asked poking the hand right before he pulled it back.

"It's a skill. All of us have one." He replied and handed Sarah back to Elizabeth who hugged her to her chest. Sarah's tail wrapped around Elizabeth's arm, as it hadn't with Kioril.

"I'm sorry, but what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, I thought I introduced myself already." He replied.

"You did but you never told us what you were doing here."

"Of course, how silly of me. I am in charge of all Darkstalkers in the surrounding 194 mile area. I am the guard of the...facility... That houses our kind."

"What is a Darkstalker?" I asked.

"A Darkstalker is a...person... With powers. Some of us can levitate... Some can disappear... Some can read people's minds. A small...tiny...microscopic amount of us are born with..." he gestured at Sarah, "...animal parts. There used to be thousands of us that were born that way but not anymore. Either because cross breeding or whatever but it's rare now. I was sent to find this baby, this Sarah, and take her back."

"No!" Elizabeth protested and tightened her grip on Sarah.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but it's what I was sent here to do." Kioril said but didn't reach for Sarah.

"We found her, we're...taking her to CPS tomorrow." I said. "A person left her in an alley and ran away when I called after her."

"She, left her there?" The man asked asked inquisitly.

"I don't know if it was a female, I just knew that Sarah was left there, in the rain."

"Rána, come here." He said.

A bumping was heard from the small sliding Glass door that lead into the balcony that was shared by me and the Smith's. I walked out of the bathroom and saw a figure bump into the sliding glass door then stared at it then at me. I walked closer and saw that the figure's face was tan and scaly like a lizard's. I took a step back and bumped into Kioril.

"There is a force field here or something." The figure said in a raspy yet feminine voice.

Kioril sighed and I saw a hand appear from the glass and took her by the arm and pulled her into it. She dissapeared into the glass and I jumped when I saw the figure standing next to me.

"Rána oui zicd mavd ran drana?" Kioril asked. It sounded like the same language that he spoke to Sarah in.

"Hu... Famm oac E tet. Pid ed fych'd so vyimd. Ed fyc nyehehk yht cra fyc lnoehk yht dryd syh vnekrdahat sa. Cu E nyh yht drah hudelat dryd E vunkud ran cu E fahd pylg pid pudr ran yht dra pypo fana kuha." The woman named Rána said, I couldn't help but see that she didn't look at all like a frog as her name suggested.

Kioril sighed and rolled his eyes. "Cra luimt ryja paah rind un gemmat! Fryd ev huputo vuiht ran?"

"Drah E fuimth'd ryja mavd!"

"Oac oui fuimt, oui rydat drec etay, oui fana clynat uv kaddehk lyikrd yht uv Bohemi."

"E ys hud clynat uv Bohemi, oui mayja res uid uv drec!" Rána practically yelled.

"E lyh'd ajah dnicd oui fedr drec!"

"E lysa pylg du damm oui teth'd E? E luimt ryja meat pid E teth'd."

"What's going on?" I asked as Elizabeth stood behind me. Neither of us recognized the language in the least.

"I'm sorry. It seems that Rána fled from you when you saw her and Sarah." Kioril said, finally turning towards us.

"Sarah? I though... E druikr ran hysa fyc Gale." Rána said.

"Crid ib, Rána!" Kioril spat out.

Rána scoffed and sighed then crossed her arms. Her sleeves slid back and some lizard hands revealed themselves. They were scaly and thin with some small claws at the end of the fingers.

"You're a lizard." Elizabeth said from behind me.

"And you're a ginger." Rána replied, not to hurt Elizabeth but in actual astonishment. "Only about 2 percent of the US's population are a Ginger. Wow, a good looking one too."

I felt Elizabeth shrink behind me slightly.

"You were the one that I saw in the alley, yesterday." I let out.

She flinched then nodded. "You frightened me so I ran."

"Ran? You climbed that wall like it was nothing!" How did you do that?" I asked.

Rána stared at me then at Kioril.

"Show them." Kioril said.

Rána nodded and pulled her sleeves and robe tail back to reveal more of her lizard like body. She walked up to my wall and placed an opened hand on it, followed by her right foot. She then put her right hand then lifted her left foot and stood hung on the wall. She slowly made her way to stand on the roof then just hung there by her feet and let her body hang down.

"Easy." She said as she held her robe so it wouldn't go over her. I was able to make out a lizard tail coming from her backside.

"You really are a lizard, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yup. All animal Darkstalkers have our animal abilities. She will be able to do cat like things when she's older." She said and fell off the ceiling then twisted and landed on all fours then stood back up.

Kioril nodded and looked at us again. "Getting back to the subject on hand... Sarah's parents died a week ago. First her mom then her dad. Both were great cat people, they were also probably the last. They gave birth to two children. Only one was born with cat parts." He gestured at me but I knew that he meant Sarah. "It is not impossible for the other, her brother, to sprout cat parts as he grows, kinda like a Dalmatian with it's spots, but we're unsure that that will ever happen."

"Okay? And you'll take care of her?" I asked.

"Wrong question." He said.

"Try again." Rána said.

"So... You want to take her back so they could be reunited?" I asked.

"We were sent here to take her back to continue that cat people race." Kioril said.

"You want to aid them so you could breed them together?" Elizabeth asked, in a shocked way.

" That... Is the right question." He said, smiling. "If no other cat people are found, then that would be the only option, yes."

"That's disgusting!" I let out. "So you're here to make sure you guys continue that cat people species? Aren't there some living elsewhere or something?"

"That is unknown. We can't take that chance." Kioril said.

"You don't actually think that we'll let you just take her, now that we know all this?"

"For once, Carlos, you ask the correct question." He replied. "My supervisor's name is Walter Bohemi, not sure if he's the bad guy with control problems or the good guy with a misplaced passion. He is carefully monitoring species of Darkstalkers so their race will continue. Most animal kinds: cats, dogs, wolves, birds. Although what he is doing is little more of running a breeding farm, not that it's a bad place mind you, but it feels as if he treats the people like animals, no joke intended of course. He had Sarah's parents in his 'farm' for under a year. Her parents actually belonged to a couple, much like yourselves, found them living in the wild, five years before. They were little more than overgrown cats so the couple fed them and housed them and kept them more as pets than guests. They weren't a bad couple or got any thrill of it but they knew that Andrew and Felicity, that is what they named them, would never fit into society so they would love the animal pair as best they could. Someone saw the couple from Iceland and called the cops, saying something about slavery and stuff. The cops came to their home and questioned them till kingdom come but the couple finally agreed on getting rid of their pets, that they grew to love. The couple tried moving to England, where stuff like Petplay was more common, in hopes of finding peace there with their feline companions but Andrew and Felicity got scared and attacked a man so the couple got arrested for a few days. The state took Andrew and Felicity and not knowing what to do, they were going to put them to sleep. One of our associates happened to have a relative working in the humane society that was going to do it and they were able to ship the feline couple to us, where I took care of them. The Iceland couple were told that their feline pets were put to sleep and buried while they were in prison. The female was already pregnant at this point and gave birth to the boy then to the girl. we were unsure if it was a litter or if they're twins so we decided to honor their humanity and label them twins. Kaleb is the older brother brother while... Sarah is the younger sister."

"So how did the mom and dad die?" Elizabeth asked.

"Speculation tends to lean to: home sickness. They missed their home so much that they died. You see... They still thought like humans, felt like humans but didn't talk or act like us. They found it easier to be animals than humans. So they finally gave in and just... Broke out, officially they died of sickness in the streets but I would bet money that they were attacked by people who weren't as generous as the Iceland couple. Their bodies were cremated so I never got to see them. I fought for possession of the urn with their ashes and it's sitting in my office, a little creepy yes I know..."

"That's not creepy... It's actually very beautiful." Elizabeth gasped out.

"Thank you." He replied.

"We still can't just let you have her. If we did will you raise her, as a human, and give her the choice?" I asked.

"That is the wrong question." He replied.

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked.

"Because you keep asking the wrong questions." He replied.

"So... Are you going to take Sarah from us?" Elizabeth asked.

"I already answered that." Kioril stated.

"You're supposed to take her... But you won't. You would have done it already. You would have just took her and left but you didn't. You actually gave it back to Elizabeth. Why did you do that?" I asked.

He smiled and stared at me as if he had been waiting for me to mention that. "I, as I said before, was sent here to find her and take her back. When I saw learned of what Bohemi was going to do, I had Rána take the siblings and place them somewhere."

"I dropped the boy... Somewhere, not in the streets but in a home where he would be looked after." Rána said as she chose her words carefully.

"I told her not to tell me as I can't lie to my supervisor if I don't know." Kioril said.

"And I was going take the girl... I'm not sure where actually. But I would find somewhere that would have her, even if it was a couple of bobcats or something. I was going to try the orphanage in the city but she began to cry as rain began to fall and I took her into that alley and was looking for something to shelter her with when you popped out of nowhere and scared me. I took off then remembered that I left her behind. But when I came back, you were already gone." Rána said.

"To answer your question, Carlos, no. I am not going to take her back. I said I would if I found that whoever had took her, was mistreating her but she seems to have found a home in you and your wife here." Kioril said.

I started to say that she wasn't my wife but I felt her hand wrap around mine. I looked at it and saw the ring that Shannon had tossed when she marched out of here yesterday, on her finger. Then saw that I had forgotten to remove my engagement ring.

"I only wanted to try it on and forgot to take it off when I came out." Elizabeth whispered in my ear.

"I believe that Sarah will be happy with you two. And I hope that you treat her as one of your own when you two have your own children." Rána added.

I saw Elizabeth blush then thank her. We had to play along, or else Kioril might change his mind.

"Won't you get in trouble though?" I asked.

"Nope. Rána only told me so when Behomi asks if we found little Sarah, I'll just say that I didn't. Officially: someone stole them and we were sent to find him."

"We also coudn't find the boy as a family had already adopted him... Oops" Rána let out and covered her reptile snout.

"You're terrible at this." Kioril said.

"Thank you. But I think that she will stick out with those things on her head." I said and scratched Sarah's right ear when Elizabeth walked next to me.

"Give her these." Kioril said. Handing us a bottle of blue gel capsules. "These will surprises the cat powers until she should be able to just be able to keep human form."

"Thank you. "He said and stuck his hand through the wall. "I doubt that I'll ever see you again but we were to run into each other, can you give me an update?"

"Sure." I said.

He smiled and pulled his hands back and handed me Sarah's birth certificate's. He scratched something out in the Name box and wrote "Sarah" with his finger."

"What's both of your last name? The married one." Kioril asked.

I was going to speak when Elizabeth interrupted me. "Cera. Carlos and Elizabeth Cera." She said and ignored me as I stared at her.

"Okay." He said and wrote some more with his finger. At first nothing happened but the ink showed itself in about a minute and a half. He handed us the papers and smiled then walked through a portal.

I turned to look at Sarah, my new step daughter. "Well, Mrs. Cera. Looks like we have a new daughter." I said teasingly then took Sarah, my new daughter, into my arms.

"Hey, I was curious. I saw it on my way to the bathroom and decided to try it on. It's not my fault I forgot to take it off, well maybe it is, but you can't blame m-" She let out quickly but stopped when I kissed her.

"You can be my pretend wife if you want." I said when I removed my lips from hers. Sarah giggled and kicked in her arms playfully as she stared up at us. "See, even she likes that idea."


	3. Chapter 3: Decisions Over A Cat Eared Gi

_Chapter 3_: **Decisions Over a Cat Eared Girl**

The new led clock in the wall red 7:43, in blue numbers, as I lay in my bed. Sarah was asleep in my arm, her white cat tail flicked once in a while. I strained my ears as I heard the slight sound of purring coming from her.

Elizabeth bought her some pink and black flower sleep ware, with a hole in the back for the tail (of course).

I had spent the entire night contemplating if I should actually turn her over to CPS.

"They would freak when they saw her tail and ears." I whispered to myself. "I can't just keep her though, she's not my daughter. And who knows, maybe this kind of stuff is a lot more common to them, than I realize."

Sarah kicked once and moved her thumb into her mouth and sucked io it as she slept. I smiled and stretched and closed my eyes then felt Sarah move slightly.

In my dream I walked around the park. I walked slowly as my back hurt.

"Come on dad." A woman said and took my arm then helped me forward.

I instinctively moved my free hand to lay over the girls and almost jumped when I saw how wrinkled and withered they were. It took a while longer before I saw the cane that I used to help me walk.

'Why would I use a cane?' I thought to myself then noticed that we had stopped by a man of average build and height. He had regular length black curly hair that pointed upwards. His face was slightly average, just another face in the crowd, with the exception of the mole on the left side of his chin. He wore an A-Shirt under a striped blue and white shirt and some tan cargo pants with some gray and black tennis shoes.

He greeted me in Spanish and I remembered, with some difficulty, that he was David, Sarah's fiancé. They had adopted a child, a little boy that had wings (not unlike what me and my wife, God rest her soul, did).

'My wife?' I thought. 'What is going on?'

I awoke when Sarah kicked my stomach, not hard but enough to wake me up.

She stared at me seriously with her round eyes and I smiled, in what I thought was, in a fatherly way.

"I guess that you could have done worse." I said to Sarah who began to cry. "No sorry, I didn't mean it!"

She continued to cry, and for a second I thought that she could actually understand what I was saying, then I smelled that she needed a diaper change.

"Hija de tu madre, when I'm old I'll be the one craping in my diaper and have you change me." I said and lifted her by her arms and took her into the bathroom and washed her up as I showered, probably not the best idea but what was a possible single stepfather to do?

I had paid attention when Elizabeth last changed her but it still took 20 minutes for me to realize that the diaper was on backwards and another 10 to get it on correctly.

Roses by Seether played on my iPod touch as it was connected the auxiliary port on my radio.

The phone rang and played the exact same song, and almost didn't hear it but, I answered it as I finished the diaper.

"H-Hello?" I asked the person on the other line.

"Carlos, hey, it's Lizzy." The person on the other side said.

"Lizzy?" I asked as Sarah locked playfully.

"Elizabeth..."

"Oh hey... Lizzy."

"Hey, umm I know I said that I would have breakfast with you and Sarah but my dad is taking us out so can I just join you when you're taking Sarah to... Her new home?"

I paused for a few seconds. "Yeah, that's cool." I said.

"Sweet, you still are going to take her right?"

"I don't know... What do you think?"

"I don't know."

Neither of us said anything for a few seconds. Our silence was interrupted by her father calling after her.

"I've got to go, I'll see you later." She said and hung up the phone.

"So what do you want for breakfast?" I asked Sarah who just stared back at me "Well I know what you're having, that yummy baby food mess. I guess I'll just fry something for myself.

It took 2 minutes for me to burn 2 eggs, five minutes to burn the sausage and 8 so I could stop Sarah from crying as the smoke alarm had gone off.

"I guess loud noises hurt your ears more than mine." I said.

20 minutes later, I had finished feeding Sarah and dug into the take out tray of Chinese food that had just arrived.

"See, Chica. When you grow up, you'll want to put some Tapatillo on everything." I said and poured the hot sauce onto the orange chicken. "Everything tastes terrible if you don't."

Sarah giggled and reached her hand out and mimicked the motion I was doing with my hand and bottle, in a baby sort of way.

"Want some?" I asked as she stared at the bottle with surprise. "Toma." I said and put some sauce on my finger and put it up to her mouth. She took my finger with both hands and stuck my finger in her mouth and jerked back as she made a horrified face.

I laughed slightly as her expression changed back slowly.

"And you call yourself a Mexican." I said playfully.

We spent the rest of the morning watching PBS and Nickelodeon as old reruns of Blues Clues, Sesame Street Lazy Town and Lamb Chop's Play-a-Long came on. I rewind my TiVo several times as Sarah seemed to enjoy the end scene to Lamb Chop where the muppet things were singing The Song That Never Ends. Sarah especially seemed to enjoy the part where the boys and girls pulled Shari Lewis back and forward. I wondered if the kid's parents would let their kids be on that show if they knew that she was in a porno back in the day. And I, of course never have seen the particular film myself and if you give me two minutes to clear my computer's history, could prove it.

Elizabeth knocked on the door at 6 before mid day. I knew that it was her because she had this specific way of knocking.

I opened the door and waved for her to come in.

-0-

An hour later, we walked in the park again but we headed in the general direction if the CPS building.

"I think that we should flip for it." Elizabeth said.

"I don't think that this should be decided in that way." I replied.

"But why not?" She asked. "I mean, we're both 50-50 on this. Just flip a coin or something... Head means yes we take her and tails means no we keep her."

"I don't have any change, I left it at home. Do you?"

"No I left my wallet at your place."

"We could flip that kid over there, depending on how he lands." I suggested and pointed at the small fair haired boy sitting in the sand box.

Elizabeth immediately lowered my hand and scoffed.

"We can't toss a boy unto the air, we'd get in trouble!" Elizabeth said in a loud whisper.

"Okay, what about that girl on the swing?" I continued, smiling.

"You can't toss her either!" She hissed.

"I was playing." I replied while smiling.

"You're so weird." She protested.

"Okay, Lizzy." I replied.

"Hey, it's a cute name."

"It makes me think of a skinny red haired girl..." I started and stared as she lifted her curly red hair with her hands and let it fall back down in strains. "Okay, it fits."

"Yeah, round goes to me." She said playfully.

"See, chica." I said to Sarah. "Your mama is a ginger and has no soul, but it's okay because I'll make sure she don't take yours."

"You think of me as her mama?"

"I certainly don't think of you as her papa, that would be my job."

"Oh...and what do you mean I don't have a soul? Do you see these freckles? We gingers gain a freckle for every would we steal!" She said and gestured at her face.

I laughed and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"The...CPS building is across the street." She said when we stood across the street from the said building.

"Yeah... Let's go around to the light.

We stood at the light and stared at the red hand that signaled for us to wait. The blue walking man figure on the sign that singled for the people to walk on the opposite side turned to a flashing red hand and counted down from 15.

14...13...12...11...

"Do you think...never mind..." I muttered.

8...7...6...

"I don't know..." Elizabeth said.

2...1...

The red hand sign on our side turned to a blue walking man figure and the people around us walked forward. I sighed and followed.

We reached the other side and stood there with the CPS building a few dozen feet to our right.

"I don't... Hey look a moving sale!" Elizabeth announced and I encouraged her to lead us there.

We walked forward, away from the CPS building, and towards the moving sale.

"Good evening!" The brown haired woman said as she packed some stuff into a box.

"Good evening." I replied and looked at a video box set of Xena Warrior Princess video cassettes.

"Oh, my God! I loved Xena!" Elizabeth said and knelt to look at the video cassettes. "Gabriel had the prettiest smile!"

"I remember when she teamed up with Hercules." I said.

"Who was that guy? The actor I mean." Elizabeth said.

"Kevin Sorbo." A man said as he walked out and took the box of random clothing, that didn't sell, from his wife.

"Man that was the day." I said and remembered sitting in front of the tv watching these old 90's shows.

"She actually met Mr. Sorbo." the man said and indicated towards the woman.

"That was a while ago, he wouldn't even remember me." The woman said and motioned her hand in a sideways wave.

"Didn't think that young people, like yourselves, would remember these old shows. We used to sit down and watch those shows with our daughters when they were kids." The man said and shifted the box to one side. "I'm Eddie. This is my wife, Delilah."

"Hi." I said and shook each of their hands. "I'm Carlos and this is Elizabeth."

"Good to meet you." Delilah said.

We spent a few hours talking about the box set of Xena Warrior Princess video tapes, that I bought. The conversation slowly moved to other back in the day shows.

"Too bad that we're moving on Wednesday, especially now that we met someone that shares our interests." Eddie said.

"Yeah seriously, I would like to know how you get your hair like that, Lizzy." Delilah said.

"Oh, it's naturally red...and curly... I'm a ginger."Elizabeth said and blushed slightly.

"Really?" Eddie said and stared in amazement. "You know, there are 651 million people in the US and only about 2 percent of the American population are gingers. So there's like one ginger for every..." Eddie winked an eye and stared upward as in deep thought. "There is one ginger for every 13 million... 13 million and 20 thousand people... On average."

Elizabeth blushed but stared back in amazement. "Really?" She asked.

"Yup... So you know how people say that you're one in a million? Well that's a lie because you're one in 13 million." Eddie said.

I stared at the man as he charmed the crap out of Elizabeth and wished that I could do that as easily as he could.

"Honey, you're embarrassing her." Delilah said and wrapped her arm around his.

"Would you guys like to join us for lunch tonight?" Eddie asked as he put the last box of unsold merchandise into his garage.

"Sure." I said after looking at Elizabeth who smiled back at me.

"Cool." Eddie said and bent down to give a dark haired girl a blue teddy bear. "Here you go sweety, on the house."

-0-

I carried the box set of Xena Warrior Princess video tapes as Elizabeth pushed the stroller with Sarah, who had fallen asleep, in it. We stared when we reached the street corner again that was a few dozen feet from the CPS building.

"Well..." Elizabeth said.

"How about we take these back home first, they're heavy." I lied. The box actually didn't weigh as much as I let on but I wanted to stall for time.

Elizabeth nodded quickly and we took our time walking back to my apartment to drop off the cassette tapes.

-0-

We got back to my apartment and I made sure to make a spot for the cassettes on my massive six DVD collection (Which contained: the remake of Dawn of the Dead, the remake for Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Survival of the Dead and Shrek (approved by Chica, aka baby Sarah) before we were to head back out and hand Sarah over to CPS.

Elizabeth took Sarah into the bathroom to change her as I worked.

I went into my closet and took out my old VCR and plugged it in then put in the first video tape. After some brief ads, the episode started.

Elizabeth opened the bathroom door and held Sarah in her arms as she stared at me.

"One episode, then we'll go." I said and smiled at Elizabeth who enabled my procrastination.

The first episode ended a little under an hour later and we "accidentally" began watching episode two.

Elizabeth curled her feet onto the sofa as I pulled her close. Sarah crawled on the floor and played with a clear plastic ball the size of her head.

The credits rolled, 50 something minutes later and we jumped when my cell phone rang.

I dug for it as I looked through each pocket twice but never found it. Elizabeth looked to the side table and picked my phone up and answered it.

"Hello?" She asked and stared at the TV. She slowly turned her head and looked at me and bit her lower lip. "Hold on." She handed me my cell phone and mouthed the words CPS as I took my cell.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, my name is Layette Williams, we have a missed call from this number on Saturday. Did anyone there call CPS?"

I stared at Elizabeth who smiled sheepishly then hit her lower lip again. Her vision slowly went to Sarah who lifted a plastic bucket with large wooden letters. The letters fell and rolled on the floor and I stared wide eyed as the most of the blocks fell on random letters but five landed in a familiar pattern. The letters C, H, I, C and A were spelled crookedly on the floor. I swallowed hard.

"Dios mío..." I muttered.

"I'm sorry?" The woman on the other end asked.

"No... I mean yes..." I said and thought about it for a few seconds. "I accidentally dialed you number when calling my office." I lied and stared at Elizabeth who smiled brightly. "Sorry, I just got this touch screen phone and mess up when dialing the numbers."

"Honey, I know what you mean. I have one too, and they want you to use one of them pen things but I ain't gon' be carrying that mess around." The woman said in a casual tone.

"Yeah... I know... I still remember the first cell phone I had..." I continued, not knowing what I should say.

"The one with the big rubber buttons and the retractable antenna, mmhmm honey that's what I'm talking about. You take care okay sweetie. Have good day." The woman said.

"You too." I repeated and pulled the phone from my ear. The screen turned on as the proximity sensor sensed that it wasn't by my ear anymore. I hit END and stared at my phone.

"So..." Elizabeth started.

"So..." I continued. "I might or might not be a step daddy."

Elizabeth squealed and clapped her hands before throwing them around me.

"Congrats, step daddy." She said.

"Thanks." I said and turned to look at Sarah who wore the bucket, that had the wooden letters, on her head as if it were a hat. She giggled and put a finger in her mouth.

"She's gonna need a mommy." I said and stared at Elizabeth.

"Well... I might just know a certain red headed girl..." She suggested and rolled her eyes to the side. "At least until you find a suitable replacement..."

"Pipi Longstockings? I love that chick!" I said comically.

"No, you dummy, me!" She said. "I have taken care of my baby cousins for a few years now, which is why I know how to change a diaper, so I think that having a step daughter won't be too bad... I mean if that's okay with her step father."

I smiled then leaned forward and kissed her. She didn't move in any way as she just let me do it.

I let go of her and stared into her light blue eyes and tucked a couple of red strands of her behind her ear. She chuckled and beamed red. I smiled at her then turned when Sarah made a disturbed noise.

She had her hands over her eyes and turned her head away from us.

"Sometimes, I think that she can understand us." I said then gasped when Elizabeth pulled me, by my shirt collar, until I was on top of her.

-0-

"Hello?" Delilah asked when I called her that night.

"Hello, Delilah?" I asked as I put my socks on.

"Hey, Carlos, what's up? You guys aren't canceling are you?" She asked.

"No, we haven't got a chance to get a babysitter for Chica yet. We are going to be a little late.

"Don't you have a regular babysitter?"

"No, I was looking on Craigslist."

"Umm you might not want to trust just anyone with your daughter, there's some weirdo's out there."

"My daughter..." I repeated and saw my door open and Elizabeth walk in wearing a yellow and white sundress.

Her long curly red hair was now wavy around her. Her slender build was showed off by the sundress. Her two inch heels clicked as she walked in and closed the door. I smiled and waved at her.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, hold on..."

"Hey, Carlos! You're not canceling on us are you?" Eddie said when he came on the phone.

"Hey! No, we're just having trouble finding a babysitter." I replied.

"No problem, hold on." He said and pulled from the phone, but was still audible. "Hey, Taylor!"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going out tonight?"

"No."

"Want to babysit?"

"Sure."

The sound of shuffling was brief as he placed the mouthpiece back.

"I got you a babysitter." Eddie said.

"Cool, thanks man." I said.

"It's cool. See you when you guys get here." He said and hung up.

"What happened?" Elizabeth asked.

"Someone set up us the bomb." I replied smartly.

"What?"

"We get signal..."

"Huh?"

"Main screen turn on."

She stared a me in confusion.

"Nothing. Eddie is sending his daughter, Taylor, to babysit." I replied.

"That's nice of them." Elizabeth said as she tilted her head to put an earring on. "Wait... Carlos they don't know about Sarah yet." She said in alarm.

"Of course they do, they saw her when we went over yesterday." I replied.

"No, I mean that they don't... KNOW about her yet." She said and placed her hands on top of her head and waved them slightly.

"Oh... OH." I said and turned to look at Sarah who was busying herself by gnawing on her own tail.

"What do we do?" Elizabeth asked.

"First." I started and took Sarah's tail away from her mouth and placed the new pacifier in there instead. "Second... We'll just have to tell her, and hope to hell that she doesn't run out yelling and screaming."

Twenty long minutes passed before someone tapped on the door lightly.

"Here we go..." I said to Elizabeth who sat on my bed and held onto Sarah.

I walked over to the door and opened it. A girl in her late teens or early 20's stood there wearing a shirt that said POTF in tilted white letters and a picture of spiraling cart tracks.

"Hi." She said then bounced slightly and extended her hand.

I stared at her shirt then at her who considered me.

I wanted to say hi but instead I said:

"Poets of the Fall." I said and smiled.

"Yeah!" The girl said and giggled loudly. "You're the first person that i know that has ever heard of them."

"I'm a big fan!" I said. "How did you hear from them?"

"Well... I was watching a guy play Alan Wake, on the internet, and one of their songs came on." The girl said.

I smiled and extended a fisted hand to her, to with she butted. "Poet and the Muse." I said.

"Poet and the Muse." She repeated.

"I'm Carlos." I said.

"Taylor."

"Wanna come in?"

"Sure."

She walked in with her hands in her jeans pocket and looked around.

"Thanks for coming, Taylor." I said.

"No problem, I would have came quicker if I knew that you were a POTF fan." She said.

"Speaking of..." I said and moved to the side of my entertainment center then looked through my cd collection. Most of the cd's were downloaded copies with the exception of the ones that I really liked. I pulled out some cd's and handed them to Taylor who squealed excitedly when she saw that I owned all of their cd's.

I smiled as she opened each one and stared at each cd, then looked up and saw Elizabeth leaning on my bedroom door.

"Taylor, I'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth." I said and gestured towards the red headed girl.

Taylor handed me the cd's and went over to shake Elizabeth's hand.

"Hi, Mrs. Elizabeth, great to meet you. Your husband has the best taste in music!" Taylor said energetically.

"Hi, Taylor, nice to meet you. Sorry but we're not married." Elizabeth said, just a little disappointedly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect." She said.

"It's alright." Elizabeth said and looked at me.

"Taylor...umm..." I started.

"I know, mom told me. I'm not some weirdo that is going to do stuff to your daughter. I have babysat before, I can cook and clean and even change a diaper or two." She said.

"That's good but... Sarah, is different." I said, slowly.

"Different? How?"

"Well..." Elizabeth said and walked back into my bedroom, her heels clicking on the wooden floor.

She walked out a few seconds later with baby Sarah in her hands. Nothing was covering her ears or tail, that was wrapped around Elizabeth's arm.

I saw Taylor breath in deeply when she saw the animal parts.

For a second, I thought that she was going to yell and run away. But she surprised me when she spoke.

"That is awesome!" Taylor said and walked up to Sarah and gently touched her ears. "They are real!"

Elizabeth nodded and handed Sarah over to Taylor who quickly moved her to sit in her arms.

I noticed that Sarah didn't wrap her tail around Taylor's arm, like she did with Elizabeth or me.

"Please do not tell anyone." I said. "If you do this for us, I'll let you keep all of my POTFs cd's. Carnival of Rust is actually autographed by Marko, Olli and Jari."

"I get to babysit this cutey and have those cd's? You've got a deal!" Taylor said and bounced Sarah slightly.

Sarah stared between Elizabeth and me then began to tear up.

"Don't cry." I said and walked closer to Sarah who extended her arms to me. She opened and closed her tiny hands to signal that she wanted me to take her. My heart leapt at that. "We will be back in a little bit, Chica. Please be good and don't scare Taylor off. She's actually really cool." I said and smiled at Sarah who looked back at me.

I extended my fisted hand and she stared at it. Taylor took Sarah's baby hand and moved it so her baby fist touched mine. Taylor and I made a fake explosion sound when our knuckles touched.

Sarah giggled and clapped her hands at the sound so I extended my fist out again. Taylor took Sarah's hand and did it again with the same response from Sarah.

"You be good." I said and patted her head.

Sarah imitated the fake explosion sound and I smiled then took Elizabeth by the arm and walked out of my apartment.

I locked the door and smiled at Elizabeth.

"You look great." I said.

"Thanks, I don't look to plain?" She asked.

"Nope, just right." I said and pushed the call button that signaled for the elevator.

-0-

"...and nobody noticed that I had accidentally took it until I came back and told them that I still needed to pay for it." Eddie finished his story as we all laughed. He really was charming and had a presence to him.

"That happened to my father once." Elizabeth said. "Except that he didn't know until he got home. He returned the next day and spent ten minutes explaining to the cashier why he had to pay for a bag of apples that he wasn't purchasing at the time."

Eddie and Delilah laughed in a friendly tone.

"So how many episodes of Xena, have you guys watched?" Eddie asked as he drank some wine.

"Two, so far. We got caught up after answering CPS's phone call." Elizabeth said the gasped slightly when she realized that she had said too much, again.

"CPS?" Delilah asked, sounding a little alarmed. "Why? Is everything okay with your daughter?"

"No... I mean yes, it's not what you think, we don't hurt her or anything, I mean we haven't disciplined her at all, as she's a baby but when she's older... Um... I'll shut up now..." Elizabeth mumbled.

"No, it's actually that... Well..." I started then thought about it. "She isn't our daughter. Um...where do I start?"

I spent the next hour and a half telling them how I met Sarah.

"That is cool, actually." Eddie said. "Are you guys going to keep her? I mean, not that she's a pet or anything like that, but I mean are you guys going to adopt her?"

"No she only has cat ears and a tail but she is still human... Oh..." Elizabeth said and covered her mouth.

"She...has cat ears and a tail?" Eddie asked and looked at Delilah.

"Yes, I mean no... I mean..." She stuttered and made a zipping motion on her mouth with her hand and sunk into her chair.

"You suck at this." I told her. "Yes... She has animal parts..." I sighed and filled in the parts that I had intentionally left out. Including Rána and Kioril.

"That's like some cartoon stuff." Eddie said. "What's them shows that Taylor and Terra watch?" He asked Delilah.

"Anime." Delilah replied.

"Yeah. They have animal people and others with powers in those shows." Eddie said.

"Yeah, we'll this isn't an anime, I mean if it was then I would have a 12 foot invisible sword and able to jump one hundred feet in the air. Not only that but I would be able to yell stuff like Senbonzakura-Kageoshi and have a sword burst into a thousand rose petals or..." I said but stopped when everyone stared at me.

We all laughed slightly.

"What did Taylor say when she saw your daughter's cat parts? I'm assuming she saw them." Delilah asked.

"She probably thought they were the best thing ever." Eddie said.

"Yeah, actually. She ran right up to her and scratched them." I replied.

"So is she a cat or a human?" Eddie asked.

"Don't ask them that, honey." Delilah said.

"What? I'm just curious." Eddie said to his wife.

"No, you kids don't have to answer if you don't want." Delilah assured us.

I motion for Elizabeth to answer. She had seemed like she wanted to say something but was scared to open her mouth in fear that she'd say too much.

"I...we think that she's both. Kinda like Rána... She was human but could do lizard stuff... I think that she was a...um...player for the other team." Elizabeth said.

"Huh?" Delilah asked.

"She was hitting on Lizzy, hardcore." I said.

Elizabeth beamed red.

We spent a few more hours talking to Eddie and Delilah. They were at least ten years older than me but we had so much in common. They introduced us to their other daughter, Terra, who was two and a half years younger than Taylor. She was a lot like her sister, except with blond hair.

The night ended around 12:30. I had drunk a little more than I should and was at that point where I knew I was drunk enough to think that I wasn't drunk at all. Elizabeth helped me to my car. One of them anyway, there were two on the street."

"Why are both my car parked so close?" I asked stupidly.

"They're not, you're seeing double." Elizabeth replied. She wasn't mad at all, just worried. I wanted to comment but ended up hitting my head on the way into the car.

"Ow, car..." I groaned and sat down in the passenger side. "Can we go to Dairy Queens?" I asked.

"You want to go to Dairy Queens?" Elizabeth asked in a surprised way.

"No..." I replied, honestly not knowing why she asked. "Do you?"

"No, let's get you home."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey... Hey..."

"Yeah?"

"Te quiero. ¿Lo sabes, que no?" I said and didn't know why she looked at me weird as she tried to shift to first gear on the stick shift.

"What? Carlos, I don't speak Spanish, I speak a little Italian, but not Spanish." Elizabeth said as she turned the car back on when it stalled.

"Everyone speaks Spanish, Lizzy, everyone, Lizzy... Hey... You know what I just found out."

"What?" She asked as slowly moved the car forward.

"That you're name isn't Lizzy!" I said accusingly.

"Of course not, it's Elizabeth, Lizzy is a shorten version." She replied.

"Well it's a CUTE name, don't believe anyone who says otherwise. They're wrong... YOU'RE WRONG!" I yelled out the window at The only two girls walking down the streets at this time of night.

"Carlos, keep your head in, we'll be home in like 5 minutes."

"Hey... Hey... Hey, hey... You know what?"

"Something in Spanish?"

"No, I don't speak Spanish, you speak Spanish."

"No, you're the Hispanic, remember?"

"No, I'm Carlos. But I see your point." I replied and poked her bare arm. "No but really. I want... Listen... I want... My place...to be our place."

Elizabeth stared at me then shook her head. "Carlos, you're drunk. You don't mean that."

"Of course I do!" I said, a little louder than I should. "We already have a step daughter...daughter... Why is it called step daughter? You don't step on her, why would you step on her? You would hurt her tail if you stepped on her, don't step on her Lizzy."

Elizabeth giggled as she drove down the street in first gear as she didn't know how to shift correctly.

"We'll talk about this in the morning, if that's okay." She said as she parked the car and opened the door.

I followed and shook my head as the night air helped sober me up a little.

Elizabeth helped me in through the doors and into the elevator the passed my room's door.

"Is he okay?" Taylor asked when I got in.

"Yeah, he drunk a little more than he should have. Your dad did too." Elizabeth said.

"Great, mom gets fidgety when he's hung over." Taylor said.

"They asked us to come over early tomorrow to send then off. Can you tell then that we'll be there, I'm sure Carlos will be sober enough by mid day." Elizabeth continued.

"Sure, kitty girl, Sarah, is asleep. I placed her in the bed and lay with her, you guys should get a crib, she might fall off." Taylor said and swung her purse over her shoulder.

"Yeah, we were talking about it earlier." Elizabeth said. "Let me drive you home. It's not far but it would make me feel better if I knew that you made it."

"Okay. Goodnight Mr. Carlos." Taylor waved at me.

"G'night..." I said and lay down on the couch and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Rogue Darkies

**Chapter 4: Rogue Darkies**

Elizabeth's father opened the door after the second knock. He was an average man, thinning hairline, blue eyes, caring face. He smiled at me and signaled for me to come in.

Elizabeth and I began to date. Officially: Elizabeth was my girlfriend as well as Sarah's babysitter. Her father and mother asked a million and a half questions when Elizabeth introduced us, and 90 percent of those questions were on why a baby had animal parts. Elizabeth had to repeat Sarah's story at least five times before it made any sense to them.

Mr. and Mrs. Belmont and I spoke for a little bit before Elizabeth walked out of her room with Sarah in her arms.

Elizabeth smiled and me and took one of Sarah's baby hands and waved at me with it. It was a cute gesture, and one of many that I was getting used to.

"So where are you guys going?" Elizabeth's mother, Phillis, asked as she took Sarah from Elizabeth's arms. Sarah slowly wrapped her tail around Mrs. Belmont's arm, which made me both jealous and happy at the same time.

"I don't know, we might hit a few bars, get some drinks, fight some thugs, rent a motorcycle and get into a race...and assuming we don't crash and burn then we might just have dinner and catch that one movie that she's been wanting to see since it came out last night."

Her father chuckled and patted Sarah's head. Sarah turned to look at him as she placed her finger in her mouth.

"Well whatever you do, just bring her back in no more than three pieces, we might still be able to collect insurance that way." He said.

"Dad, it'll be fine, don't worry. I'll be fine." Elizabeth said and kissed her father in the cheek. "I'll be back by midnight." She announced.

"You'll be back by 11:59 and 59 seconds or else your grounded." Her father informed her.

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore." She protested.

"You live under my roof so you'll be back by...um...whatever time I said." Her father announced.

"Well... We could just stay here and watch a movie and sit alone in the dark and talk and see what happens." I said.

Her father and I know each other, somewhat. He would sometimes bring food for Elizabeth and we got to talking over certain politics matters. I, not knowing the difference between republicans and democrats (except that one was represented by a donkey and one was represented by an elephant who looks a lot like my Tia Manuela on my father's side) but I had this canny ability to bluff people into thinking that I knew more than I actually did. It helps that my uncles and aunts have been teaching me to lie, by example, since I was able to ride my bike.

"Get out of here." Mr. Belmont said. "You young people and your hormones and your gestures and rap music and fingering and wild sex..."

"DAD!" Elizabeth shrieked as she blushed.

"What?"

"Can you not talk about...that?"

"What sex? You young people think that you invented sex but let me tell you about me and your mother when we were younger. The year was 1987 and thongs were getting big..."

"Ew! Ew! Ew! Stop it!" Elizabeth said and covered her ears with her hand.

I smiled.

"Ah, ah!" Mr. Belmont said and pointed at me. "He knows how to take a joke, some of him could rub off on you, Lizzy."

"Uh, no. Let's go, Carlos." Elizabeth said and grabbed my hand and led me out through the front door.

"Get me a grandson with a side of fries!" Mr. Belmont yelled out after us as Elizabeth slammed the door closed.

She sighed then glared at me. The gesture would have been scary, in any degree, but her freckle face wasn't build for it.

"Don't you say anything, Carlos." She said.

"Well your dad did request-"

"Shut up." She snapped.

"Well I'm just saying that Sarah might want a brother or sis-"

"Do you ever want to see me naked?" She asked, women always know how to fight dirty.

I thought about it for exactly one millionth of a second then said "Yes, dear."

"Okay then, let's go, I'm hungry." She said as her usual charm returned.

I extended my arm, which she took and we headed to my car. I, of course, opened the door for her and ran around the car to get in the drivers side.

-0-

"According to Sarah's birth certificate thing, that we were given, her birthday is on the 31st of March." Elizabeth said and put some fish in her mouth.

"Yeah, next Tuesday." I said and drank my cherry coke. "We should throw her a party."

"I was just thinking that." She said and bounced a little. "So what, your place or mine?"

"Wait...are you?" I began.

"What... No dork, I'm asking if we should have a party in my parents place or your apartment." She corrected me.

"Well party, still kind of means what I was first thinking of... But I think that we should do it in your parent's place. She seems to like it there." I said.

She stared at me for a second then shrugged it off. "Were you serious earlier tonight?"

"About what?"

"The Sarah having brothers and sisters." She asked shyly.

"What? Well yeah maybe...but only if we're both ready. I don't want to rush you or me into anything." I said.

She smiled at me and blinked languidly. I had no idea what that had to mean, if anything at all, but I took it as a good sign (a bad sign would have probably involved something heavy or sharp flying towards my head).

"Well I appreciate you not rushing me into things, but I just want my first time to be...special. I know, I know...old fashion and stupid but I never imagined my first time to be anything tacky."

"It's not stupid." I said and held my hand out and took hers into mine. "It's actually nice not having to worry about having to do...that after every meeting. I mean sure, it's important but even that can get boring."

"Really?"

"Yeah like when Sharon and I..." I began then decided that I didn't want to talk about that. "How about we just enjoy our meal. I mean it's costing us an arm and leg."

"I know, and I appreciate you taking me out." She said as I let her hand go.

"Don't worry about it. It's what I do, now I did forget my wallet so I hope you know how to run fast or are able to wash a lot of dishes." I smiled.

"W-what?" She asked as all the color went out of her face.

"I'm kidding, just relax." I said chuckling.

"You dork." She replied.

Her phone rang, which made her jump, and she pulled her purse out and looked for it. She stared then answered the phone, nervously.

"Mom, what's wrong?" She asked.

I was able to make out what her mother was saying on the other line because she was practically yelling it out.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, Lizzy...I... I mean Sarah...I mean... Oh...my...God!" Her mother said on the other end.

"Mom, what's wrong? Mom!?" She asked.

The phone went dead and Elizabeth's pale face went even paler (hell, even her freckles faded out).

"Let's go." I said and stood up and took my jacket from the back of the seat.

She nodded quickly and stood up. The waiter quickly rushed over, I guess he thought that we were going to skip on the tab, and I handed him my credit card, which he took and went to charge our amount.

We drove down the main street about two minutes later, at about a million miles an hour. It took us 45 minutes to get to the restaurant from Elizabeth's parents house, but it only took us 7 minutes to get back.

Elizabeth kept calling her home number but nobody picked up. She was practically in tears by the time when we got to her front door. I opened my door and quickly closed it when a car drove by. I stepped out and caught up with Elizabeth who moved fast, faster than any girl in heels should, up the steps and fumbled her keys.

'Why do women always fumble their keys?' I thought and reached out to take them from her as her father opened the door.

His smile faded when he saw Elizabeth's pale face.

"Honey, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked.

"Dad, where's mom? Are you guys okay?" Elizabeth choked out.

"Yes, yes. Everything's fine. Your mom just got a little carried away." Her dad reassured her.

"I called you guys over and over and nobody answered." Elizabeth cried out.

"Sorry, honey." Mrs. Belmont said as she beamed red. "I just couldn't find the phone."

I didn't tell anyone that Mrs. Belmont had the home phone in her hand.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Yes, it's just..." Mrs. Belmont started.

"What is it mom, oh God just tell us." Elizabeth cried out. "What's wrong with Sarah?"

"Nothing is wrong, honey. She's right there." Mr. Belmont said and pointed at Sarah who kept trying to roll a rubric's cube over.

Elizabeth pushed past her parents and picked Elizabeth up, who extended her hands once she saw us approaching.

Sarah wrapped her tail around Elizabeth's arm as soon as she could (a gesture that Elizabeth and I were now used to).

Elizabeth examined Sarah, with motherly precision, and decided that nothing was wrong.

Sarah turned and stared at me with her finger in her mouth. She pulled it out quickly and pointed at me and said something that sounded a lot like "dada".

Mrs. Belmont laughed out as Mr. Belmont clapped slowly.

The color in Elizabeth's face returned (starting with the freckles) and stared at me.

"Dada..." Sarah repeated and I chuckled.

"She called you 'dada'" Sarah said.

"Well, that's mostly true." I said and walked over to Sarah who extended her arms towards me.

I took her from Elizabeth's arms and felt her tail wrap around my arm, as it normally did.

"Dada..." She repeated and poked my bottom lip.

I gently bit her finger and she laughed happily. I let go of her finger and she clapped her hands together.

"You freaked me out over Sarah's first words?" Elizabeth said, with just a slight hint of anger and jealousy. "I mean, it's a moderately good reason but you could have told me over the phone. I mean, Carlos had to drive like a lunatic to get here in the little time we did."

"I'm sorry dear, it was just so unexpected and...well you two had to see it. Mrs. Belmont replied.

"Well you could have told us over the phone. Help me out here, Carlos." She said and turned back to look at me.

I looked at her and at her parents who stared back. But all I said, all I was able to get out was "She called me 'dada."

-0-

I spent the next week trying to teach Sarah some new words. I was still officially out of a job but I had some cash in my savings account to get me through a little bit, so I didn't worry.

"What's this?" I asked as and paused the TV as the screen focused on a car.

Sarah stared at it then at me then at Elizabeth who sat on my right.

"Dada." She let out.

"Close enough." I said and hit play.

"That wasn't right. She's going to grow up thinking that everything is her dada." Elizabeth said.

"Hey, she'll eventually learn. I'm just happy that she can say things." I replied as I fast forwarded the commercials then rewound it because I went too far.

"She can say some other things. She said ball the other day." Elizabeth said and lay her head on my shoulder.

"She called me a cabron yesterday." I said.

Elizabeth snorted, without wanting too, then laughed it off. "You're teaching her Mexican cuss words now?"

"No, she learning SPANISH cuss words. Swearing seems to stop her from crying." I said and let Sarah have the control when she kept touching it.

"She's gonna change the channel." Elizabeth said.

"No she's not." I replied and looked at Sarah, who pushed the numbers 4555555555555 on the universal control that was set to control the AUX device that I didn't have. "See."

Sarah, proving me wrong, shifted the switch over to TV and hit a button. The TV automatically shifted to an animal show that had a female lion chasing a gazelle. The lion jumped on the gazelle and took it down with its sharp claws. The lion then but into the gazelle's neck until it stopped moving.

"Don't show her that!" Elizabeth protested and put the TV on cartoons." Sarah automatically went on full couch potato mode and stared blankly at the TV.

"Watch this." I said and took the control from Elizabeth and changed it to something else.

Sarah made a high pitch noise in protest so I changed it back. I changed it to something else which made her kick and cry out. I made it turn back and her fascination returned to the TV set.

"Interesting..." Elizabeth said.

"I think that her feline instincts keep her fascinated. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she crawled up to the TV and tried touching the pictures." I said.

Someone knocked slightly on the door. I turned towards the general direction of the door then back to Elizabeth.

"You're parents maybe?" I asked her.

"Maybe." She said.

I stood up and walked towards the door and unlocked it. It opened easily enough but I froze when I saw the brunette that was half an inch shorter than I am.

"Shannon?" I asked.

Shannon looked up at me with an expression somewhere in between anger and sadness.

"You never called me." She said.

"I...I said it was over." I replied.

I heard Elizabeth turn the TV volume down.

"You...really don't want to be with me?" She asked.

"Listen. We're done, it's as simple as that. I've moved on." I said, the words came out of my mouth faster than I could stop them.

She gasped slightly. "You're not kidding, are you?" She asked. "You said that you would call me in a week."

"No, I said that I would call you when I was ready to take you back, which you might notice that hasn't happen yet. You need to move on, Shannon...I have." I explained.

"Were you ever going to call?"

"Doubt it."

"Why would you give my hopes up, Carl?"

"Quit calling me Carl. My name is Carlos. Carlos fucking Cera." I let out.

"Don't take that tone with me you lying piece of shit." She snapped back.

"Get the hell out of here. I don't want to see you again. Don't make me call the cops." I said and began to close the door.

"Don't you walk away from me, I want to talk about this!" She yelled and elegantly placed her foot in between the door and its frame.

"I will slam this door, and it will hurt." I warned her.

She yelped and removed her foot then yelled on the other end about how I was going to miss out on a good thing and how I would be sorry and come crawling back.

A neighbor yelled for her to shut up (in harsher language than needed) as she stepped into the elevator. I turned to look at Elizabeth who stared at me with a sad smile then looked away.

"I'm sorry about that." I said and signed.

Baby Sarah crawled over to me and tugged at my leg hair, as I wore shorts. I gasped in pain as Sarah stared at the leg hair in her hand.

Elizabeth giggled and covered her mouth when she noticed.

"No more of that." I said and picked Sarah up, who immediately wrapped her tail around me.

Sarah pushed up against me and closed her eyes as her ears drooped.

"She's sleepy." Elizabeth said and tried taking Sarah from me but she held onto my shirt with her hands and my arm with her tail. "Wow...she really likes you."

"Yeah. She does this sometimes. I don't get my hand back until she goes to sleep." I replied.

"Wow..." Elizabeth said. "She doesn't do that with me."

"She will. One day..." I replied and carried her to my bed.

I placed her on my bed but she didn't remove her tail. I thought about pulling my arm up to see if she would let go, or even hand there (kind of like a monkey would) but thought against it, and stood there.

Elizabeth got on my bed and lay down as she stared into Sarah's face as she slept.

"She is so cute when she sleeps." Elizabeth said and brushed some of Sarah's brown hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

I lay down and on the other side of the bed and lay there for a few as I stared at the back of Sarah's head until her tail became loose and I slip my hand from it.

"Finally." I said and shook my hand.

Elizabeth grinned and stared at me for a few seconds before she let her grin fade.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I looked up from staring at Sarah's tail wave and stared at Elizabeth, who's hair was pretty much covering my second pillow.

"You're talking about the Shannon thing? Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

"Okay, because you know I'm here if you want to talk. My guy cousin always keeps things bottled up and gets depressed... I tell him to talk to me but he just says that he's fine."

"Yeah, sounds like us guys." I said. "I'll tell you if something's wrong. I really don't care if she's mad at me. I've put up with her crap for two years now... I don't regret my decision at all."

Elizabeth smiled and leaved past Sarah and kissed me.

-0-

A year passed and I walked down the street with Sarah on my right and Elizabeth on my left.

We had started giving Sarah those pills that Kioril gave us in our old apartment. Its effects were minimal at first but her animal parts would shrink back into her body, after the eight time she drank the pills. Not entire of course but enough to hide them in her long hair or under a skirt.

"Daddy, where are we going?" Sarah asked me as I held her hand while crossing the street.

"M'ija, we humans have this nasty habit of eating so, we are going for breakfast. Or aren't you hungry?" I asked her.

"Yes." She replied and nodded her head quickly.

We walked for a little bit until a man came wobbling out of an alley and fell to the floor. People around scattered and walked passed the man.

I handed Sarah to Elizabeth and walked over to the man who lay face down on the floor. I knelt next to him and heard movement from the alley. Two women stood there and glared at me before one took a step forward with a bloody dagger in hand but stopped when the other woman put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hu, drana'c duu syho baubma. Mad'c ku." The second woman said.

The first woman growled and turned to me then away to face the end of the alley mouth. Both women turned away from me and began to run until their hands shifted to wings and their bodies shrunk until they became dark birds and flew away.

The man on the floor shifted and I looked at him. He turned his face in my direction and mouthed something.

"What?" I asked.

"Kill...me...before I...shift back..." He said.

His face started elongating and became a white muzzle. The first thing that crossed my mind was "Darkstalker". I took off my unbuttoned shirt and covered the man's face.

The early October air was a little cold but there were more important matters at hand.

Elizabeth moved closer as she carried Sarah in her arms.

"Carlos, what's happening?" She asked.

"Lizzie, go get us some breakfast, I'll take him back to the apartment. Meet me there." I said and picked the man up and tossed him over my shoulder. He was heavier than I thought but I could handle it. It was only a block and a half away.

"Are you sure?" She asked me.

"No, just go. I'll see you when you get there." I said. "Chica, stay with mommy."

Sarah nodded and smiled.

"Good girl."

She nodded and walked away slowly. She turned back to look at me and I gave her a reassuring smile.

Nobody paid us much attention as we walked by. It was a shame actually. The man would have probably died if we weren't passing by.

"Who...are you?" The man grunted and lifted his covered head slightly.

"My name is Carlos." I replied.

"Carlos... Why are you...helping me?" He groaned.

"I couldn't just leave you. What kind of message would that sent to my daughter?" I said.

He chuckled.

"Hmm... A family man. My name is... Lobo. At least that's what I'm called." He grunted.

"Okay, Lobo. I'm taking you to my apartment. We'll see about healing you there." I said.

"You're a healer? Oh thank God." He said. "I didn't know that they let Darkies live like people.

"Darkies?" I asked, a little amused.

"Darkstalkers. Short and easier to say." He said.

"Hmm... Well sorry buddy but I'm no Darkie. I am Mexican, however, and we have some pretty effective, and unorthodox, medicine." I said as I opened my apartment's door.

Elizabeth and I moved into a three room apartment down the street from my old apartment. It was at least 600 square feet bigger, with a back yard and a quarter half lot.

I called it my apartment, because that's what I was used to, but it was actually a rental home.

I lowered the man onto the couch and stared at his hands as they grabbed the arms of my sofa. His hands weren't human anymore, they were longer and thin and each had a claw at the end of the finger. His feet had elongated and shaped like a wolf's rear paw, all bones and claws.

"Lobo... You are aware that that is Spanish for wolf, right?" I said.

"Really?" He said and took the shirt, that I had placed over his head, off.

I cried out when I noticed his face: it was now slender and round. His mouth and nose had stretched out in a muzzle. His entire face was covered in white fur, he even had some trimmed dog whiskers. His eyes looked like the eyes of a dog, round and white pupils.

"I didn't know." He said sarcastically. Speaking did interesting things to him muzzled mouth.

I tried to say something but looking at him left me lost for words.

"What? Cat's got your tongue?" Lobo asked as he looked at me.

"You're a dog." I said.

"Wolf, actually. Man-wolf. Werewolf if you will." He said and grunted as he held his side.

I have been to caught up in his form that I didn't notice the two blood stains in his shirt.

"Don't worry, only some of it is my blood." He said and held himself.

I removed his hands and told him to take his shirt off.

He did, with little resistance, and I saw the two punctures that had been made with some small object, a knife maybe.

"Does it hurt?" I asked as I examine the opening.

"No, it's actually nice...what the fuck do you think?" He asked as he jerked and some blood came out.

"So what did they use? Silver knives?" I asked as I got a rag to clean the wound.

"Silver? No I think they were steel or something."

"I thought that only silver could hurt werewolves."

"Amongst other things" He said and yelped like a dog when I closed tied two shirts together around his waist. "It's kind of like the whole vampires are hurt by garlic or crucifixes."

"Wait, vampires exist?" I asked.

"A form of Darkies. They mostly stay in the north-east for some reason, I think they like the cold."

"Okay, you should stop bleeding now. The body fur is keeping me from being able to see the extent of the damage but it doesn't look like it's too bad. I thought you guys healed really quick." I said, curiously.

"Only during the fool moon. Any other time, we're just people with fancy looking fur coats."

"When is the next fool moon?" I asked.

"Tonight I think. Don't quote me on that." He said. "Who's the redhead? Your sister?" He asked as he looked at a picture of Elizabeth, Sarah and me.

"That, is my girlfriend. Hands off Lobo. Do you have a real name? Something like John or Andrew or Bobo?" I asked curiously as the werewolf held himself. He had bled all over the couch and tile floor. Elizabeth was going to freak.

"The people where I work call me Lobo, for obvious reason. But my mamma called me Mauricio. Mauricio Mejia." He said and took the picture with one hand.

I heard the door unlock and the handle turned as as Elizabeth and Sarah walked in.

"Is everything okay?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine." I replied.

"Where is stranger number 12?" She asked looking around as she held a white bag with a grease stain.

"Stranger number 12, aka Lobo, aka Mauricio is bleeding all over the couch here, or was anyway, but it's okay because he volunteered to clean it up." I said.

"When did I-" Be started but I poked his ribs which sent a jolt of pain through his midsection.

"Daddy!" Sarah said as she ran up to me. "Mamma found a boyfriend." She said as I picked her up.

I looked at Sarah who beamed red.

"Lizzie, how could you?" I joked, but she always took that kind of stuff seriously.

"The burger guy wouldn't stop hitting on me until I told his manager." She confessed.

"Good girl." I told Sarah and kissed her on the forehead.

She giggled and sniffed loudly. Her cat ears perked up as she turned to look at Mauricio who stared back at her in surprise.

"Ed'c ran..." Mauricio mumbled and tried sitting up but grunted and lay on the couch.

"It's that weird language again." Elizabeth said as she put the food on the dining room table.

"Weird language?" Mauricio asked.

"Yeah, you just spoke it. Them two girls, in the alley, spoke it. Kioril and Rána spoke it.

"You met Kioril? Holy shi... I mean..." He started as he looked at Sarah who cocked her head to the side. "I mean... Wow... What was he like?"

"Cool...collected. Kept saying that I was asking the wrong questions." I replied.

Mauricio nodded. "That is what they say about him."

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"No, I've heard stories of him though. He's somewhat of a legend actually. Everyone claims to know someone who knows someone who knows him." Mauricio replied.

"Carlos, your food is getting cold. I brought something for Mr. Mauricio. I got Sarah a small coffee, she said that you said that it was okay." Elizabeth said and stared at me.

I stared at Sarah who smiled at me gingerly and I sighed.

"No le mientas a tu madre." I said and Sarah nodded then giggled.

"One day, I'll learn Spanish and find out what you guys say behind my back." Elizabeth said.

Mauricio laughed.

"You're welcomed to join us, Mauricio or Lobo or whatever you want to be called." I said and walked to the kitchen as Sarah who took a sip of her small coffee and pulled a face.

"Don't get addicted to that stuff." I said and took a sip from her coffee cup and made a disgusted sound. "It's missing sugar."

Mauricio wobbled over to the kitchen table and sat down in the empty chair. He groaned loudly as he sat down. His wounds were already healing as no blood came out.

We talked over breakfast as Mauricio told us what he did for a living.

"I hunt rogue Darkies." He said as he bit into some pancakes. he chewed slowly as his wolf muzzle would tend to have crumbs fall out on the sides if he didn't.

"So... Those two girls in the alley..." I suggested.

"Are runaways. I am normally sent to find my kind of people as most of us aren't used to the quote unquote 'real world'."

" So why do they run away? Is it that bad there?" Elia egg asked as she sat Sarah on her lap and combed her hair with a large round brush.

The three of us were done eating but still sat on the table as we talked.

"No, well not for most. Some animal Darkies are treated like the animals they represent. Most species have gone instinct. Tigers are gone, so are jaguars and most dogs. Werewolves are rare too but my parents had six of us boys and they found a colony of four females so that will practically save our race, if breeder correctly. Cats were thought to be extinct until they found a pair a whole back. They had two children, both had gone missing. I suspect that she's one of them." He said and gestured at Sarah who looked at us in confusion.

"You're not taking her from us, Mauricio." I said and flinched when I saw that my hand was clutching the kitchen knife on the table.

"Chillax, I'm not that much of an...uh...jerk. I have been told to retrieve her if I ever see her but as far as I'm concerned: I just met a couple and their ordinary daughter who tells her mom that her dad says that she could have coffee." Mauricio said and patted Sarah's head playfully. "Imma call you Fluffy, because your hair is really soft."

Sarah giggled and waved her tail playfully.

"You're welcomed to stay the night. You need to get better." I said.

"No need, but thank you." He said and stood up. "I'm already healed." He took a step forward lost his balance and hit the floor, muzzle first. He whimpered for a second then whispered, "On second thought...I think I'll take you up on that."

Sarah giggled as I laughed. Elizabeth didn't find it funny. I know that she wanted to talk about that decision but I already made my mind up. She would be mad at me for an hour or so but admit that it was the right thing to do.

I walked over and helped him up and one of his wounds opened up.

"Santa madre, a ver si no te mueres." I mumbled.

"No me voy a murir." He replied.

"You speak Spanish?" I asked as I sat him on the chair.

"Sometimes. Just depends on the occasion." Mauricio said.

"Great, now I'm the only one that doesn't speak Spanish, in this house." Elizabeth said and we all shared a laugh.

-0-

I awoke to the sound of a dog howling, later that night.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked when I rolled out of bed.

"Damn neighbor's dog is howling again. There must be an owl on the power post or something." I replied.

She moaned and rolled over again.

I yawned as I passed my kitchen and glared a the opened rear door.

"¡Mierda!" I mumbled and reached for the wooden bat on the side of the Refridgerator and gripped it with both hands.

I pushed the door opened as far as it would go and quickly stepped out, ready to start swinging when I saw a white dog sitting on the floor and looking up at the full moon.

I relaxed then jumped and finally relaxed when I noticed that it was just Mauricio.

"Mauricio, what are you doing?" I asked as I put the wooden bat on the inside of the door and rubbed my eyes.

"Sorry... I umm, went and saw that thing there that i saw when I..." He started then trailed off as a cloud finished crossing passed the surface of the moon.

His tail slowly wagged as he whimpered. His front hands pawed slightly before he let out another howl.

"Daddy?" I heard someone ask from behind me.

Sarah rubbed at her sleepy eyes as she yawned. She was in her pjs that Elizabeth had cut a whole in the back for her tail. Her ears lay on her head as she nodded her head in fatigue.

I bent down and picked her up and it only took a few seconds for her to go to sleep in my arms. Her tail slowly wrapped around my arm, a gesture that she had stopped doing once she started walking. She would still do it, involuntarily, when she was asleep though.

A large cloud passed by the surface of the moon and Mauricio snapped awake.

"Carlos?" He asked and looked around.

I simply raised an eyebrow.

He sighed and stood up on his two wolf legs.

He stood about half a foot taller than me on his hind legs. His clawed hands looked like they could rip my head clean off with little effort. His two stab wounds were now healed, although the dried blood was still present.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his snout, which made a slight whistling sound. He slowly began to shrink as his fur thinned out and his muzzle melted into his face. His claws returned into his hands and became fingernails as his hand shortened. His knees cracked as his joints were no longer folded in three points. He stood in front of me, naked, exempt for a patch of fur on his waist.

"So that's what you really look like." I said, surprised that I wasn't as shocked as I thought I would be.

He looked surprising normal: Hispanic, long black hair, dark skin (but lighter than me), brown eyes. Around 5'11", my height.

He shook his hand, as the last of his fur disappeared, and examined himself.

"Yup, no bleeding, which is good." He said and looked up at the moon.

Elizabeth walked out and quickly gasped and turned to look away from Mauricio, who was practically naked, in the moonlight.

"Sorry!" She exclaimed and blushed.

"For what?" Mauricio asked and cocked a hip.

"I, um..." She began and jumped when someone else spoke.

"Daddy?" Sarah asked as she rubbed her eyes while on my arms.

Elizabeth flinched then moved close to cover Sarah's eyes, in case she turned towards the scantly dressed man.

"I had a bad dream." Sarah said trying to uncover her eyes.

"Did you, Chika?" I asked and lay my chin on top of Sarah's head and motioned for Mauricio to put some shorts on, that were hanging on clothing line.

"Yes. I dreamt that Uncle Robert was an...um...um... One of those big um... Elefante... Elephant things." She yawned and continued mumbling into my ear.

"Well he is that huge, I wouldn't doubt that he hangs out with elephants m'ija." I said.

"He wanted to eat me." Sarah continued.

"Don't worry, Chika. If he does, I'll pull you out." I replied.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Her uncle Robert was my older brother, Roberto Cera. He was 460 pounds of man. He visited a few times, in the last year, and Sarah liked spending time with him because of the snacks he kept about his person. He went on a diet once and lost 150 pounds but gained it all back when his girlfriend, at the time, cheated on him with his neighbor (his female neighbor). I told Elizabeth that if she would ever do something like that to me, to at least do it with the 19 year old walking hourglass down the street and to record it. She didn't talk to me for a whole day after that.

"You know what my ma would do whenever I had a bad dream?" Mauricio asked Sarah, when he walked closer, wearing a pair of shorts.

"Tell you a scary story so you would forget about your bad dream? Oh wait that was my mother." I said and smiled.

"Mine too. White people had that story with the girl and the three bears...we had La leyenda de La Llorona." Mauricio said.

"And El Cucuy." I added.

We both shared a laugh as Elizabeth stared at us pitifully.

"Anyway. She would stay in the room with us until we fell asleep. Do you know why she stayed in the room with us?" Mauricio asked Sarah who shook her head quickly, her cat ears perked upright in attention. "She stayed there so she could fight off the bad dreams." He continued and made all sorts of fake karate noises and gestures as he pretended to fight off the darkness.

Sarah giggled and placed her hands on her mouth as Mauricio pretended to grab an imaginary person by the arms and pin him to the ground.

"Bad nightmares, you leave Fluffy alone." He said then stood up and acted as if he threw a person over the fence.

Sarah giggled and bounced a little, on my shoulder, as Mauricio dusted his hands so he could wipe away the imaginary dust off his hands.

"Them bad dreams will leave you alone now, Fluffy." He said and patted Sarah's head. "They won't be coming back for a while."

"Thank you." Sarah said, smiling.

"Let's take you to bed, Baby." Elizabeth said and lead Sarah back into the house.

"Did you ma really-" I began.

"No, that was just a load of bs..." He said. "It seemed to help though. I feel that I must tell you that I'm not the only person looking for rogue Darkies. There are about six of us for each neighboring state. We were all given instructions to find a white cat eared girl that looks exactly like Sarah. Same age too."

I tensed immediately and crossed my arms. "You don't think that you could take her from us, not now." I said.

He chuckled and shook his head slowly. "I'm supposed to do a lot of things, Carlos. I'm notorious for forgetting to do things. Plus I owe you. I'd probably be dead if you didn't help me... I can't betray someone like that. I think that Imma try and get some sleep. Being stabbed takes a lot out of you.

"Yeah. Imma head to bed. You're welcomed to the spare bedroom. There's a child's bed in there but it's large enough to fit you, with some adjusting." I said.

"Thank you." He said and butted my fist. "Carlos. There are some bad Darkstalkers out there. I don't just bring back the ones that run away. I have to kill them sometimes. Those two women you saw in the alley killed ten men before they left."

"Did they have to kill the men?" I asked, I knew that there had to be something else to his story.

"Not smiling the way they did while they were doing it." Mauricio said and grimmest. "We're all bad people, Carlos. Wether we enjoy what we do or not." He said and nodded goodnight at me and walked inside.

I stared at the moon for a few seconds. It's white glow shone nicely in the dark sky as I stared at it. I walked back in and headed back to bed but stopped when I passed by the wooden door with the crudely drawn unicorn. It was ajar so I peaked in.

"Can you make sure that no bad dreams wake me today Mr.?" Sarah asked Mauricio who sat on a kid's chair.

"Yeah, you got it. I'll keep you safe, Fluffy." Mauricio said and pated her head.

Sarah smiled and rolled over to go to sleep. I thought about making Mauricio leave Sarah's room but he didn't seem like a bad guy. I slowly closed the door but stopped when it creaked.

I imagined Sarah's ears perking up.

"Goodnight, Daddy!" Sarah said.

"Goodnight, Chika." I said and closed the door.


	5. Chapter 5: Gale Wilmingson

_Chapter 5_: **Gale Wilmingson**

Sarah dug her face into my chest as she forced her ears flat on her face while thunder struck in the background. She whimpered slightly as her tail straightened.

It was raining, well not really. I mean water was falling but not anymore than a heavy sprinkle.

I hugged Sarah closer and stroked her long brown hair. The thunder knocked the power out 15 minutes ago. We opened the windows but the house was hot without the AC so we sat outside as cool air made its way in.

It was one of those random hot October days, where it goes from being 80 something degrees and rockets up to 120 bajillion degrees for no real reason.

"Make it stop, daddy." Sarah said in a muffled voice.

"It's just thunder, Chika. It won't hurt you." I said and reached out to hold Elizabeth's hand.

I squeezed her hand lightly and she turned to smile at me.

"It's loud..." Sarah said and jerked when the thunder cracked again.

"I know, Chika. We're out of Darmagene, that medicine you take to suppress your cat powers." I said and stroked her hair.

"Can we get some more?" She asked and shrieked slightly when more thunder hit.

"No... We got that batch and it isn't sold in pharmacies. I'm sorry, baby... Just let the house cool down a bit and we'll go back inside." I said and hugged her close with my arm.

"Why don't you guys have cat ears, like me? How did you get rid of them?" Sarah asked.

My heart skipped a beat and I stared at Elizabeth who bit her lower lip then smiled gingerly at me. We still haven't told Sarah that she was not only adopted but also an outcast, in most senses of the word.

"I, um..." I began but was spared having to answer when I noticed movement from behind the wooden fence.

Something made its way over the fence and fell on our yard. I flinched when I saw the figure but relaxed when I heard the sounds of someone swearing as they stood back up.

"Fuck man, werewolves weren't meant for climbing fences."

"Mauricio, you could have knocked on the front door." I said and stood up and held onto Sarah who still held onto my shirt. I held her with both arms but she didn't wrap her tail around my arm anymore.

"I..." He began but cringed visibly when thunder struck at a distance. Sarah did the same. "Fucking thunder keeps messing with me man."

"It's messing with Chika, too." I said. "What's up? Haven't seen you in days." I said and butter his fist.

"I was off looking for them two bird girls again. Elusive little bitche... Anyway... They got away again. They killed three of my people. Mauricio said and cracked his werewolf claws.

Thunder struck at a distance again but it only made a slight sound so neither of the two animal people in my backyard made any movement.

"Anywho... Fluffy look what I got you." Mauricio said.

Sarah pulled her face away from my chest and looked at Mauricio with her ears still pressed on her head.

He walked back to where he crash landed on my yard and held out a stuffed teddy bear and waved it playfully.

Sarah slowly reached out for it then buried her face into my chest again when she saw thunder strike. The thunder struck somewhere close and made a large crackling noise but neither of them cringed. I noticed Mauricio start turning back into human form.

"It wasn't as loud that time..." Sarah said.

"This teddy is something that Kioril gave me. I finally met him by the way, it is supposed to suppress the darkness gene and lower our senses." Mauricio said in a voice that started with his darker werewolf voice and ended with his human voice. "Kioril wanted me to personally give it to Fluffy. He's very keen on her development. He told me to tell you to give her lots of milk so she grows up healthy."

"Milk is nasty." Sarah let out as she held the bear to her as if it were her lifeline. Thunder struck in the distance but Sarah didn't flinch at the sound, which made her smile.

"You need to drink milk, Fluffy. How else are you going to get big and strong and stuff?" Mauricio asked.

"Daddy, did you drink milk growing up?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, a lot. My mom, your grandmother, always yelled at me and your uncle Roberto because we always finished the milk." I said.

Sarah giggled. "Would you get mad if I finished the milk?"

"No... Well maybe a little but we could always get more." I said.

"There you go, besides, what kind of kitty doesn't drink milk?" Mauricio asked and patted Sarah's head.

Sarah giggled and hugged the bear tightly.

"You can keep him, he has an OFF and ON switch for when you want to suppress your cat senses." Mauricio said.

Sarah giggled and mouthed thank you to Mauricio as the power flashed back on.

"Finally!" Elizabeth said. "I was starting to get wet."

Mauricio and I looked at each other than at Elizabeth who beamed red and glared at us. "You two perverts need to get your minds out of the gutter." She said and took Sarah from me. "Come on, baby, let's take you inside."

"Okay. Goodnight uncle Mauricio." Sarah said and waved playfully.

"Goodnight." Mauricio said.

"Thanks for bringing that." I said and butted his fist.

"No problem. I was in the neighborhood, well actually I wasn't but I had to deliver that. I smell food... I was going to ask you for a favor but I forgot what it was..." Mauricio said as his face twisted as he tried remembering what he was going to ask me for.

"I was showing Lizzy how to make some Tamales. Well you could stay here until you remember." I said. "You shouldn't have to sleep in the rain, anyway."

"Cool, thanks." He said and walked inside after me. "Oh I just remembered." He said and pulled out three clear orange bottles and held them out to me.

I noticed that one of the bottles rolled in his hand and I was able to read the word "Darmagene" on the label.

"Sweet! Thank you so much!" I said and took the bottles from him.

"Yeah, Kioril gave me those too, along with a note that I can't remember where I left..." He said and looked through his shorts pocket. He turned as he looked for it, and I noticed that there was a note, that was covered in plastic, and pinned to the back of his shorts.

I reached for it and pulled it off.

"There it is." Mauricio said and stared at me.

I unfolded the note and read it.

"Please finish the blue pills in the bottle labeled 'phase 2' first. I have asked Lobo to show Baby Sarah how to control her powers, as it is standard training for any of our agents. Take care Carlos.  
-Kioril, Head of research and development."

I folded the note and put it in my pocket.

"Okay, so this one first?" I asked and looked at the bottle with about 20 blue pills that had the label "Phase 2" written in neat cursive.

"Yup. He said something about growing stages and hormones... I don't really remember as this chick was passing by at the same time." Mauricio replied.

"You get distracted easily don't you?" I asked.

"Hey, she is a succubus... You know what they are right?"

"Lust demons, right?"

"Yeah... But they have this glamour or something that makes you see them as what you really want in a girl. And let me tell you: this one has a balcony that you could do Shakespeare from, mmm mmm mmmmMM!"

I stared at him for a second then slowly nodded. "Yeah... So in other words: you haven't actually seen her? Just what you want to see?"

"Pretty much. Who cares though? I mean...she's pretty much what you want in a woman...now if she only cooked and cleaned...then she would be perfect. Take a guess at what her name is."

"I'm thinking old... As in Adam's time... Lilith?" I said.

"Yup... I wonder if there's some irony in that."

"Maybe... I wonder what I would see if I looked at her."

"Probably a five foot six, c-cup, ginger. Speaking of which, Elizabeth I brought some of Sarah's pills!" Mauricio yelled over my shoulder.

"You're a life saver, Mauricio! Thank you!" Elizabeth said and I heard her walk away.

I brooded for a few seconds.

'Would I see Elizabeth? If not then who would I see? Shannon? No..." I thought. 'What if I didn't recognize the person I saw.'

I was interrupted when I looked at Mauricio as he stared at me with a quizzical look.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Hmm... So you really don't mind if I stay here tonight do you?" He asked.

"Nah, it's cool, come in." I said and turned to walk in.

I stopped when thunder cracked in the background. Sarah ran through the kitchen, with her new teddy bear in her arms, and easily ducked through the chairs and table to dodge Elizabeth, who had her hands wet and hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"You need your bath, Sarah, get back here." Elizabeth hissed and pulled chairs away.

"No! I already took a bath outside, in the rain." Sarah replied.

"Sarah Cera!" I snapped, in my best fatherly tone, and Sarah immediately stopped and stared at me from behind a chair. "Get over here."

Sarah cringed and slowly walked out from under the table, in a way that reminded me of a scared cat, and made her way towards me.

"What have I told you?" I said.

"No running in the house?" She replied shyly.

"Yes, but the other thing." I continued.

She thought about it and smiled slightly. "More than two shakes and it's playing with yourself?"

"When did I say that?" I asked, honestly curious.

"You told Uncle Robert that, when he visited Saturday... What does that mean anyway?" She asked.

"You'll learn when you get older... Hopefully not though...although that's just wishful thinking on my part." I said and bent down. "Mira, muchachita lista, two baths a day for you until you figure out that only boys play in mud."

"Well how do you know I'm not a boy?" She asked, honestly curious.

"I've checked, trust me." I replied and picked her up. She started wrapping her tail around my hand but stopped herself for a second or two then let the gesture finish.

She smiled at me and hugged her bear closer.

"Go take a shower with mommy." I said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Why can't I take a shower with you?" She asked.

"Because a boy and a girl aren't supposed to take a shower together."

"You and mommy do it."

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because it is."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why?"

I stared at her and she giggled. I handed her over to Sarah who thanked me and carried Sarah into the bathroom and locked the door.

"She's in the 'why' stage?" Mauricio asked.

"Yeah... She's only two too..." I said.

"She's half cat. She'll mature faster, all animal Darkies do, even me." He replied.

I turned around and was about to say something when I saw him pick up a tamale and bit into it, with the corn husk still wrapped around it.

"Ummm." I began but stopped when he bit down hard and ripped the husk with his teeth and chewed on the tamale and the husk.

"This tastes terrible." She said and pulled a face as he spat it out.

"You have to remove the husk, Mr. Mature." I said and shook my head and passed the bathroom into the room.

-0-

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of beeping and something being dragged on the ground.

"What is it?" Elizabeth moaned as she loosened her arm around my chest.

"I hear noises." I said and rolled out of bed.

"It's probably Sarah getting some water or something." Elizabeth moaned and shifted slightly.

"I'll have a look." I said and walked across the room as Elizabeth moaned a reply.

I stepped out of the room and crossed the living room and into the kitchen where the sound of something dragging stopped and I heard someone grunting slightly.

"Hey." I said, to no one in particular.

I turned the lights on and saw Mauricio squint towards me after he finished placing a new five gallon water jug into the water cooler.

Sarah sat on my counter top, with her new teddy bear being held up by her tail (that was wrapped around its waist), and sipped on a mug of water.

"Sorry to wake you, Carlos. Fluffy got up to get some water and finished what was in here so she tried to replace the bottle. I heard her struggling so I came out of your extra room to help her.

"It was heavy." Sarah confirmed and finished her water.

I sighed in relief as I thought that someone had broken in. I thanked Mauricio and carried Sarah back into her room.

She kissed me in the cheek, said goodnight, and rolled over to hug her teddy and fall asleep.

I patted her on the head and caressed her left cat ear before walking out and kicking the night light off with my toe.

I closed the door and jumped when I saw Mauricio standing on the doorway of my guest room.

"I think that there won't be a room for me to sleep in, pretty soon." He said and smirked at me.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, just a little confused.

"Werewolf senses are sharp. A whole lot sharper than human's. We can see at night, we can hear at a distance, we can taste chemicals in the air, we can feel the individual materials that make up loose substances." He continued.

"And?" I asked.

"And..." He continued, "And we have an acute sense of smell. Did you know that women smell different when they're bleeding?"

"We're not actually standing out here, talking about Elizabeth's period are we?"

"We could also smell when other things are happening." He continued in an 'a matter of fact' tone. "She smells different, I recognize that smell as a woman in our labs had it. You know what happened to her?" He asked.

"Smacked you for smelling her?"

"No...well yes BUT she gave birth a little under 9 months later."

"Oh... Wait, are you trying to say...?"

Mauricio nodded and patted my shoulder then walked into the guest room that we had because Elizabeth and I planned on having at least one child of our own in the distant future.

"Just a warning." Mauricio said and closed the door.

I stood in the hallway for a few minutes thinking about what I just heard.

I wanted to say "I'm gonna be a daddy" but that was already the case, in all ways that matter.

My thoughts drifted from having to wake up to go to work at 6am to Sarah, and how I would have to tell her that she was adopted in some point in the future, to how I had to wake up at 6am, to Elizabeth being pregnant, to the other four hours of sleep I could get before I had to be up at 6am to go to work, to get a sandwich, to Elizabeth who lean on the door framing and yawned as she stared at me, with a puzzled look.

"Why are you just standing there? Come to bed." She said and walked back into our room.

I joined her and decided on not to ask as she would have told me if she was sure.

I lay down and scooted closer to Elizabeth who lay there with her back to me and at the back of her head for a minute or so before she reached back and took my hand and placed it over her midsection.

I let it lay there, like I normally do, but slowly caressed her stomach then stopped when I realized I was doing it.

"What's wrong?" She asked but didn't look back.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nothing never means nothing, what's wrong?" She enclosed her hand over the back or mine.

"I was just thinking... Well remember when you still lived with your parents and we talked about giving Sarah some brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah..."

"What if we make that happen?"

"...I'm three days late."

"I know, Mauricio told me."

"What?" She asked and rolled over to look at me. "How did he know?"

"He smelled it on you."

She thought about it for a few seconds then lifted her hand to her nose and sniffed.

"You dork." I said and tucked a bang, from her hair, behind her ear.

"When did he tell you?" She asked.

"Just now. He helped Chika replace the water bottle on the cooler." I said.

"I want to not trust him, but I do. Should I be suspicious of him? I mean, he knows about Sarah." Elizabeth asked. It sounded as if she had been contemplating this for a while.

"I trust him. He seems trust worthy. He knows Kioril, and he seemed honest enough." I replied.

"Yeah, but you know what they wanted to do with her and...her...brother."

"Which is why Kioril had her smuggled out. Listen. Chika is smart enough to not do anything stupid, like get kidnapped."

"She's two."

"She's a smart two year old. Mauricio said that people like Chika mature faster."

"So she's a smart two year old?"

"Maturerer...maturer... More mature. When I was 2, I couldn't tell the difference between my ass and face."

Elizabeth chuckles and scooted over to lay her head on my shoulder.

"Are you ready to have our first child?" She asked.

"As ready as I'm gonna be." I said and kissed her.

-0-

"I'll see you guys Monday." I said to my coworkers and picked up my lunch bag and headed out of the door of the office with three inner offices.

"Later." Joe Longfist said and nodded at me absently. I stared at the picture of him and his wife, Desiree, as I walked out. She always wore half a dozen earrings on each ear, something about the zodiac.

"Bye, Carlos!" Alana Williams said but never turned from her computer monitor.

I left the office about 45 minutes early to pick Sarah up from daycare. Elizabeth would normally be at home to do it but she went shopping with her mother. I didn't mind as it felt as if I didn't spend enough time with Sarah anyway.

My phone vibrated when it got a message from Elizabeth, reminding me to pick Sarah up. I smiled and replied "Got it." Then closed my phone and got inside my car.

It only took about 10 minutes to park my car outside of the daycare.

It was a simple one story building with animals painted outside. A giraffe, lion, zebra, gorilla and an elephant covered the front wall.

I opened the door and a 17 year old attendant smiled at me. She had long blond hair and wore a simple t-shirt with the daycare's logo on it.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She asked and gave me her best professional smile.

"Hi, my name is Carlos Cera; I'm looking for my daughter, Sarah Cera." I said.

Elizabeth and I joked about how both of Sarah's names practically sounded the same. Some people actually thought that we gave her the same name twice.

"Oh yes. She's in room four with the other two and three year olds." She said after she looked Sarah's name up on the computer.

She stood up and led me to the room labeled number four, then opened the door and led me in.

I saw some kids running back and forth with toys and chalk in their hands. Their laughter and yelling was almost defining but I guess that the workers here were used to that.

I didn't see Sarah or the person in charge of the kids in the room so I started to worry.

"Right this way." The 17 year old blond assistant said and closed the room's door then led me to the back of the room where there was another door with the shutters closed.

The assistant opened the door and gestured for me to go in.

I went in as the girl walked in after me and locked the door.

I looked around at the room: it was about ten feet long and about six wide with chairs on each side and a window on the left. Four chairs were on each side of the room and only one was occupied by a familiar looking brown haired girl with her cat parts showing.

"Sarah." I said and walked over then knelt next to her.

"Hi, daddy." She said quietly and let her feet swing as she was too short to touch the floor while sitting down.

"What's going on?" I asked and noticed that Sarah's cat ears were pressed against her head and her tail didn't wave.

I picked her up and she immediately hugged me, her tail even wrapped around my arm.

"Mr. Cera, can I have a word with you?" A voice said from the end of the room. A woman stood there: she was in her late 40's but didn't show it in her body or pitch black hair. She wore a long beige skirt and a matching blouse. Simple earrings on her ears and some frameless glasses.

"Sure." I said and carried Sarah into the room with me.

The woman shook my hand and motioned for us to walk in then whispered something to the 17 year old blond assistant before joining me.

"Please, sit." She said and gestured at two comfortable looking guest chairs in front of the desk in the room.

I sat down as she took her place behind the desk and moved the mouse on her computer then typed something in before acknowledging us again.

"Our records show that Ms. Cera has only been with us a handful of times in the last year, Mr. Cera." She started and placed her hands on the desk.

"That's right, we only bring her when we need to, is that a problem?" I asked.

"No, not at all. I just wanted to see that we had our records straight, Mr. Cera." She replied.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I asked.

"I do apologize, Mr. Cera. My name is Margaret Honeydew. I am the person in charge of this daycare." She said and extended her right hand so I could shake it again.

I did so and adjusted Sarah who was still on my right arm.

"Those cat ears and tail on her. They are real aren't they?" She asked and nodded to Sarah.

I stared at her for a while before answering. "Yeah."

"Was she born that way?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm... I would like to ask you some questions, Mr. Cera, but I think it would be better if we did it in private. Ms. Helios is outside and able to watch Ms. Cera until we're done."

"Okay. Chika, I want you to wait for me outside. I'll be there in a bit, okay." I said in a soothing voice.

Sarah nodded slightly and unwrapped her tail from my arm. I put her down and she walked to the door and stood on her tip toes to turn the door knob then walked through the door and closed it behind her.

"This room is sound proof, so don't worry about anyone overhearing, Mr. Cera." Margaret Honeydew said.

"Please call me Carlos, Mrs. Honeydew." I said.

"Only if you call me Marge." She replied.

"Okay, Marge, what is this about?" I asked.

"It is quite unusual to see a person with animal parts, Carlos. Wouldn't you agree?"

I thought about Sarah, Kioril, Rána, the two women in the alley that turned into birds, and Mauricio. All the people I knew or have seen that either had animal parts or became animals.

"Carlos?" Marge asked.

"Sorry. To be honest, I've seen a few." I replied.

"Really?" She asked as she raised an eye brow.

"Well... I've seen a couple but it's not like I'm related to any of them."

"Except for Sarah?"

I stared at her for a while then sighed loudly. "Sarah... Is adopted. I found her in an alley one rainy day." I said and continued to explain Sarah's story in varying detail. "But she's my daughter in every way that matters, Marge. That will never change."

"Does she know that she's adopted?"

"No..." I said after a pause.

"And would I be correct in assuming that Ms. Elizabeth Belmont is Sarah's stem mother?"

"Yes. She is my fiancée as well as Sarah's mother, in every way that matters."

"I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to pry, Carlos, but I just want to find out if she is getting some sort of education."

"Her education is fine, Marge." I snapped. "She is no different than any other kid her age. She can count, somewhat, she knows her colors. She even watches Sesame Street."

"I didn't mean to offend you, Carlos. I know that she is a smart girl, no doubt in my mind. She is actually smarter than most kids in the class. Am I to take it that you're Hispanic?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I thought so."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, Carlos, that she has been able to converse with our English speaking children as well as with our Spanish speaking ones. I'm sure you're the one to thank for that."

"I have been teaching her some Spanish, yes."

"It shows. Kids need every advantage that they could get, these days."

"I'm sorry, Marge, but why am I here?"

"I do digress don't I? Sorry but most of the women here only want to talk to me about gossip or something useless and the men fear me because of my position. It is nice to be able to talk to someone who I can have a conversation with. What does coño mean?"

I smiled and choked a laugh. "Did Sarah say that?"

"Earlier today. Just once, am I right in assuming that it's bad?"

"Just a little." I replied.

"Hmm... Well back to business. Sarah had to use the rest room earlier but refused to go when we sent an older girl with her, as a guide, since she hasn't been here that often. Sarah finally agreed to go with the other girl as long as she stood outside. It was a strange request but we told Mary, the older girl, to wait outside for her. She did as she was told but started to worry when Sarah took too long in the rest room, so she went inside to check up on her and saw the Sarah with her cat attire. Mary cried out and ran to my office. I then went into the bathroom, and saw Sarah crying in one of the stools. I convinced her to sit in my office until you came to pick her up."

"I see..." I said. "One of the people that I know, that is part animal, has been showing her how to hide her animal parts in the last month. He got some progress but he had to leave so Sarah is only able to hide them some of the time."

"You say that she should hide her animal side? Why is that?"

"Well, to be frank. Most people will freak out. Just like that Mary girl. Last thing we need is someone trying to harm Sarah because she's different."

"I see." She said and picked up the phone and dialed three numbers. "Lara can you please send Mary into my office? Thanks." She hung up the phone and smiled at me. "Carlos, let me show you something."

A girl walked in about a minute later. She wore a pink dress and some ribbons in her hair. She smiled at me and even curtsied. She had to be around 9 or 10, but looked a little taller than she should have been.

"Carlos, this is Mary, Mary Honeydew. She is my daughter." Marge said and gestured for the girl to show me.

The girl closed her eyes and her skin started crawling and shifting until it was a shiny blue. Her skins glistened and shone brilliantly. Her eyes were an emerald green without pupil or any white, just green. She smiled sheepishly at me with a set of perfectly whitened teeth.

My eyes widened and I turned Marge who now looked a lot as her daughter: dark blue skin, green eyes and perfectly whitened smile.

"Carlos, we are different too, should we hide who we are?" Marge said. She spoke but her mouth didn't move. It was as if she spoke directly into my mind.

"You're a Darkstalker?" I said. I was shocked but not as shocked as I should have been.

"Sure. I'm not sure what we are, but we are not exactly human... Not in regular standards. This is how we look, we cannot change our shape."

"But, both of you looked different just now." I said.

"No, we just let your mind form an image of us. You saw what we wanted you to see. I'm only showing you to prove that Mary wasn't scared of Sarah."

"No. She was actually cute but she hissed at me and that is what scared me." Mary said, in my head.

"She hissed at you?" I asked.

"Yes, but to be fair, I surprised her." Mary said.

"I am going to recommend a facility that you could take Sarah so she could learn how to... Hide, as you put it, her powers."

"I don't want to put her in a shelter with other Darkstalkers. That would be like sheltering her from the world." I replied.

"True. I would still suggest that you take her. She could learn to live a regular life." Marge said.

I turned to look at Marge but she was already in her human form again.

"If only so she could learn to control her powers." Marge continued.

"Well that wouldn't be too bad. I just don't want her to feel as if she's an outcast." I said.

"Of course!" Marge said, with her lips. "The facility is called The Different Maker. It originally started in New Mexico under the name of Huyton Industries but that it closed down a while ago. Mr. Richard Bohemi bought the building and has used it to help keep the Darkstalker race alive.

"Bohemi?" I asked and remembered that Kioril told me about him. He had said that he was either a bad man with misguided power or a good man with lust for power. I told as much to Marge.

"He is an interesting man. He tries to keep species alive. Last I heard: he had found a clan of female werewolves to introduce to another clan of werewolves, who were male. It sounds kind of like a mating farm or something but it's working. I also heard that he was desperately looking for two cat children that were kidnapped a year...ago..." She said and stared at me thoughtfully. "You found Sarah... A year ago, correct?"

I stared at her then nodded. I saw her face shift as she finally put two and two together and grinned.

"So... Whoever took the two cat children dumped one in an alley, where you found her?" She asked.

"Something like that." I replied, in the vaguest way I could.

"And the boy? The other child that got kidnapped."

"No idea." I said.

"Hmm... Are you aware, Carlos, that we could not only speak directly into your mind, but we could also read it?" Marge said, cautiously.

"So you're reading my mind?" I asked.

"No, we could, but we're not. Not anymore, anyway." She replied. "Don't worry. I just wanted to see how you treated Sarah at home. I was deciding if I should tell Bohemi where Sarah is."

I raised an eye brow, or tried to (I was never good at doing that). "You're not going to tell anyone anything!" I practically yelled. "I'll-"

"I'm well aware what you would do to keep your daughter safe, Carlos. And that is why I've decided to not tell Bohemi anything. Officially: the reason I'm talking to you now, is because our rate increase that will take effect come November. Which they are going up by three dollars, by the way. But I see no point in telling my boss; yes he owns this daycare, anything at all. I mean: what good is a boss that you haven't seen in years?" She winked at me.

"Thank you." I said.

"Don't thank me, seriously. I am willing to try and teach her when she is here, if you like."

"Sure. That would be awesome." I said.

She stood up and shook my hand than stared to walk out with me behind her.

Sarah sat in one of the waiting chairs as Ma. Helios talked to Sarah about cartoons.

Cartoons, being a subject that Sarah knew plenty about, kept them both talking animatedly, even though Sarah didn't say much to people older than her, unless it was me, Elizabeth or Mauricio.

"And then... And then he would cut the rope but the rock wouldn't fall so the big bird got away all the time." Ms. Helios continued as Sarah smiled back, "So then the wolf would go to see why the rock didn't fall."

"Why didn't it fall?" Sarah asked, while swinging her legs and bouncing slightly on the chair.

"No idea, but it does fall then. It falls right on the wolf." Ms. Helios said and made a gesture with her hands, like a rock falling hard on something.

Sarah giggled and held her hands to her mouth. Her cat ears were straight up in the air as her tail waved playfully.

"You two are having fun." I said as I walked closer.

"Yeah!" Sarah said and jumped off the chair and took my hand. "Wanda was just telling me about this cartoon she used to see back when she was my age. It was about a coyote and a big bird. Can we watch it when we get home dad?" She bounced and smiled up at me.

"Sure, I think that Netflix has them." I said the. Thanked Wanda and Marge then headed out as Sarah curled her tail around her waist and lowered her ears so she could cover them with her hair.

None of the other kids or adults paid us any attention until we passed Mary who actually hugged Sarah.

We walked out into the streets and began walking towards my car when I noticed two women staring at me from the mouth of an alley. They both squinted at me as we walked closer and sidestepped back into the alley and away from view.

I quickened my pace as I let go of Sarah's hand and stared into the alley, wide eyed.

Nobody stood there. Other than two cliché trash cans and some graffiti of a of the word "Bitch" written on the end (at least I assumed that it was supposed to be the word "Bitch" as it was spelled B-I-C-H.)

Two crows flew over the top of the end building and out of sight with a mocking caw.

Sarah finally caught up and took my hand again and stared up at me. I smiled down at her and shook my head.

"I thought I saw something." I said and continued walking.

"Daddy..." Sarah began.

"Yeah, Chika?" I asked.

"Am I in trouble?" Sarah asked. "You said to never show my animal parts to strangers. And I did today..."

"No, m'ija." I said and stopped to bend town and pick her up. She hugged my neck closely and laid her head on my shoulder. "You're not in any trouble, I on the other hand am. Your ma told me to pick up some collard greens or whatever them chingaderas she makes once in a while."

"Those are nasty." Sarah said.

"Yeah, don't tell her that though." I replied and missed the top of her hair and opened my car door when I got to it.

I buckled Sarah in the front seat and went around then happened to glance up onto the top of a large apartment building and saw two birds circle around us, high up, and disperse when then noticed me looking at them.

'Hmm.' I thought but was interrupted by Sarah who opened the car door.

"Daddy, I've got to go potty..." She said.

"Okay, can it wait until we get into the store?" I asked.

She nodded animatedly and closed the door. I went around and drove off.

-0-

"You forgot the collar greens." Elizabeth said as she finished unpacking the non-paper bags that she never got.

"These plastic bags are destroying the environment." Elizabeth reminded me.

I had just gotten home from buying out the store without the collar greens she coveted so much.

"Jerky, chips...more chips...more chips...pork grinds... Hot sauce...soda...candy." She announced and looked at Sarah who shook her head and pointed at me. "Carlos, no snacks before dinner, it'll ruin your appetite." She nagged.

"This is not candy, it's piloncillo." I replied and bit into a piece of the cone that was Mexican treat.

"It's sweet and ruins your appetite, give it here." She said and held out her hand.

"Fine." I mumbled and bit another piece off then gave her the rest. "Chika, when you grow up, make sure to marry a normal woman, okay." I said and smiled as Sarah thought about it for a second then protested.

"Hey, I'm a girl... Girls, don't marry girls."

"Some do, and it makes some guys really happy to watch." I replied and stared at Elizabeth who glared at me. She had gotten used to me making comments about stuff like that. I remained as vague as possible whenever Sarah was around.

"So it's okay for girls to marry girls?" Sarah asked curiously.

"No." Elizabeth snapped.

"Why not? You just said..."

"I know what I said... But you'll understand when you grow up and become a huge homophobe like yo mama." I replied and patted her head.

"I am not a homophobe!" Elizabeth announced.

"What's a homop...hobe?" Sarah asked.

"Yo mama." I replied.

"Whatever." Elizabeth said.

"Mom, can I have some ice cream?" Sarah asked.

"After dinner, wait you guys bought some ice cream?"

"Only a carton...sssssss." I said and pulled out three cartons I've ice cream and put them in the freezer.

"What flavor?" Elizabeth asked, resignedly.

"Vainilla, freza, y chocolate." Sarah announced in Spanish.

Elizabeth thought about it for a second.

"Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate." I informed her. "Good going Chika!" I said and high five'd her."

"I knew that, you could have just had gotten that Neapolitan." Elizabeth said.

"What the hell is Neapolitan?" I asked as I put some produce away.

"You know that one ice cream that has all three flavored you just got?" She replied.

"Yeah." I replied.

"That's Neapolitan."

"No, it's Napoleon ice cream." I said stubbornly.

"NEApolitan."

"Napoleon!" I said and pulled out my phone and looked up the ice cream's name then frowned and closed my phone's browser and shoved it into my pocket.

"Told you so." Elizabeth taunted as she put the sixth box of Frosted Flakes in the pantry.

"Told you so." I repeated in a mocking tone.

"Why did you get six boxes of Frosted Flakes but only one gallon of milk?"

"I bought four gallons of milk."

"You bought ONE gallon of milk, TWO gallons of chocolate milk, and ONE gallon of Horchata."

I snickered because she has never learned how to actually pronounce Horchata and pronounced it like: WHOREshota.

"White girl." I pointed out.

Sarah giggled for a few seconds before her cat ears perked up and shifted backwards slightly. Sarah turned and looked towards the back door attentively.

"What is it? What do you hear?" I asked.

"Don't treat her like a guard dog." Elizabeth complained.

"She's a cat." I reminder her.

Elizabeth made a face at me then stuck her tongue out, which looked quite cute on her ginger face.

"I hear something." Sarah said as her cat ears flicked again.

"I'll check it out, stay here." I said then began to walk away then turned back around. "Make sure that she doesn't throw away my pilloncillo, Chika." I said and walked out.

The night air was chilly and quiet, without a single sound except for the slight shifting of leaves in the breeze.

I looked around and didn't see anything so I mentally named the things in the backyard, as a man once took off with my bike, that I never use (but it's mine, damn it).

'Trash cans...tree...plant...other plant...crazy looking woman holding knife and running towards me... Wait!' My mind raced as I fell sideways and barely avoided the woman's blade.

She flipped backwards and landed behind my crappy shed.

My heart raced as I heard a swooshing as another woman hit me with a 2 by 4.

I bent forward, with pain but didn't fall. The woman swung at me again but I grabbed her hand. She quickly let go of the wood and pulled out a knife to stab my hand, which I barely moved out of the way.

I was about to ask a very obvious question when the first woman jumped on top of my crappy shed. I turned around in time to see a steely fly about two inches from my face.

I hit the floor and looked at the second woman who now held the steely in her hand. She flipped the throwing dagger and held it as if she knew what to do with it.

"Give us the girl." The second woman said and stood on my foot.

I kicked wildly, once, and she fumbled slightly but quickly regained her stance.

"Sarah? No, never." I said and tried kicking the woman who simply moved out of the way.

I stood up as quickly as I could then fell again when the first woman kicked the back of my knee to make me fall over.

I hit the floor, on my knees and the first woman grabbed me by the hair and held another steely against my throat.

"Don't move!" The second woman said as the first pressed the throwing knife against my throat.

"You got it." I replied smartly.

The second woman cocked an eyebrow and bend down.

"Where is the girl?"

"She's not here, I'm home alone today." I lied.

"Carlos, what's going on?" Elizabeth gasped as she stepped outside.

The second woman turned to look at Elizabeth and then at me.

"You're all alone, huh?" The second woman said and held out her steely towards Elizabeth who did the stereotypical woman thing and asked.

"What do you want?"

"The girl, give her to us." The second woman said.

"She's not here; she's staying at a friend's house." I yelled.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Sarah asked as she stepped out.

"God damn it..." I muttered as the first woman snickered.

I heard something swoosh behind me and the steely cut me slightly before falling into the floor, as the woman behind me cried out and was pulled off.

The second woman turned in time to gasp as the first woman was thrown at her. Woman two tried jumping out of the way but woman one slammed right into her and knocked her down.

Both women got up, quickly, and then got tackled by a large dog.

Elizabeth finally formed a thought and turned the backyard light on and I was able to see clearly.

One woman was being held down by the entire weight of the large white wolf as the other woman lay on the floor while the wolf had its mouth over the woman's shoulder blade. Both of the girl's steely lay near me and just out of their reach. Woman one tried reaching for the nearest steely but cried out and pulled her hand back when the dog bit deeper.

I got up and kicked both steely away, which made woman one groan.

"Who are you?" I asked and noticed the large wolf looking at me.

"Fuck you." The first woman said then cried out again as the wolf bit into her shoulder. Blood slowly oozed out from inside of the large wolf's mouth.

"'ope." I heard the wolf mumble.

"I thought that was you, Mauricio." I said and stared at the werewolf.

"'es...'ope..." Mauricio repeated.

"Rope?"

"'es..."

I moved and ripped off the clothing line that hung from two trees and held it out to Mauricio who mumbled something loudly.

"What?" I asked.

He removed his mouth from the woman who immediately tried to force herself up when Mauricio punched her with one werewolf claw.

"How the fuck am I going to tie these bitches like this?" He hissed and went back to biting the second woman and pulled the first one's hair.

I moved closer and tried the second woman's hands and feet together with part of the long clothing line then moved over to tie the other woman's legs with the remaining line. Mauricio took one of Elizabeth's blouses and tied the first woman's hands together.

"Finally! Shit, I've been looking for these two for months now. What are you doing here?" Mauricio asked.

"This is my house..." I replied and cocked an eyebrow (or tried to).

He looked around and nodded, "Oh...yeah that would explain it. Why are they here?" He asked and grabbed the rope that held both women together and dragged them across the lawn and sat on one of them. He began to spit out some blood and gagged loudly as he turned human again.

"I don't know, they were asking me to hand Sarah over." I said.

"We weren't asking!" The woman that Mauricio was sitting on hissed.

"Shut up." Mauricio said and pushed the woman's head down into the dirt and held it down. The woman moaned and kicked with her tied feet until Mauricio let her go and breathed deeply before coughing loudly.

"Shit, I think that she cut me..." I said. "Holy crap, did Chika see any of that?" I asked and turned to see Elizabeth as she stared back at me and held her hand over Sarah's eyes.

I sighed in relief and smiled at Elizabeth who stared back.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Don't know." I replied.

"These two are the runaways from our facility. They were in charge of taking care of the 'animals' but ended up killing a few as well as some lab assistants and a janitor before running away." Mauricio said.

"We only killed-" Woman two started but was cut off by Mauricio who dug her head into the dirt again.

"Just give us the girl. It's the only way!" The first woman said and jerked out of the way as Mauricio reached towards her.

"What do you want with her?" I asked and moved closer to the women as Mauricio let the second one go.

"None...of...your...business." the second woman coughed out.

I nodded to Mauricio and he dug her face into the dirt again.

"Can you stop that?" The first woman said and tried wiggling closer to him.

"Fine." Mauricio said and let the second woman go.

I looked up at Elizabeth who still held her hands over Sarah's eyes.

"Lizzy, take Chika inside. We'll handle this." I said.

"Okay. Be careful." Elizabeth said and turned Sarah around before walking inside. Sarah quickly turned back and looked at me, worriedly.

I waited for them to be inside before I asked them anything else. "Tell us what you want with Sarah?"

"Sarah? Who's...oh... Jane drec tispycc hysat Gale, Sarah." The first woman said and smiled at the second woman.

"Fryd y tispycc. E kiacc dryd ra tuach'd ghuf ed'c naym hysa." The second woman said and broke into a laugh.

"Cra ec hud yh 'ed'! Cra ec y kenm!" Snapped Mauricio in a vicious voice.

"Awe... Is little doggy mad? Don't be mad, little doggy." The second woman taunted. "How about you let us go and we'll play a little. Come on, what do you say?"

"I should kill you myself, right here." Mauricio growled.

"You said Sarah's name, back there. What did you say?" I asked.

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!" She mocked me. "Awe. Little Mexican man still doesn't know his PET's name." The second woman giggled.

"Shut up and answer my question!" I practically yelled. "What do you want with her?"

The first woman simply smiled and turned to the second woman then nodded. Both women began to shrink slowly as their features shifted to more of a bird like.

"They're trying to get away! Get them!" Mauricio said and grabbed a woman's hand. The hand slowly evaded him as it changed to a wing.

Both women were now the size of crows and cawed loudly then took flight.

Mauricio reached out with a wolf paw and grabbed one crow and reached for the other that evaded him and flew up out of reach, just as I jumped up to grab it but missed.

The bird turned and looked at the crow that Mauricio had in his hand. I threw a few rocks as I tried to hit her but she simply cawed and dodged them all.

Something swooshed up and the bird cawed loudly in panic and began to fly away when something grabbed it and disappeared.

I heard something crash land on my wooden fence so I turned quickly and I saw the wooden boards everywhere as a large werewolf foot twitched slightly and lay there.

I walked closer and admired the simple comical effect when I noticed that one of the crows was free and pecking at Mauricio's claw so he would let go of the other crow.

I bolted forward and the crow cawed in panic and flapped wildly to fly away but I was able to catch her in time.

She struggled in my hands but began to peck and scratch me with her one free talon.

"Stop it!" I hissed and shook the bird.

"Please don't kill her. It would mean more paperwork." Mauricio groaned and pushed himself up with his one free hand.

The crow in his hand began to caw loudly and shake violently but shut up as Mauricio barked loudly at her.

"Bitch keeps scratching me. Do you have something we could use to put them in?" Mauricio asked.

"I'm sure I could find something." I said. "But first..."

-0-

When I was a kid: My older brother, Roberto, would tie certain insects and beetles on a string and gave them to me so I could hold on to one end of the string while the beetle, or whatever, flew as it was attached on the other end. I would eventually let it go but not before watching it flutter for as long as the entertainment lasted.

I did that now, with both crows. I had attached both of them tied by their talons with some of the clothing line.

They didn't bother changing back as their feet were tied and their feet would most certainly be damaged if they were to change back.

Both girls kept trying to fly away as hard as they could. One of the crows actually flapped wildly but never got any higher.

I handed the rope over to Mauricio who looked up at the birds then tugged hard so both birds plummeted down but quickly went back up as Mauricio let the rope extend again.

"What exactly stops me from swinging them around wildly?" Mauricio asked and began swinging both crows in a small circle.

"Well the fact that you would most definitely kill them, for one." I replied and looked through my trash in hopes of finding a box or something.

"Is everything okay? Where did you get birds? Where are those women?" Elizabeth asked when she finally came back outside to check.

"Everything's fine." I said. "Those birds are the two women who attacked us. They can shape shift."

"Oh... What are you looking for?" She asked.

"Something I could put them in for Mauricio to take them to his facility." I replied.

"I got some Tupperware." Elizabeth suggested.

"Something with holes, so they don't suffocate."

"Let me see what I can find." Elizabeth said and walked back in.

"You know..." Mauricio started. We could probably clip their wings and let the alley cats eat them. I mean they did kill several people, some of which they ate, so it would be fair."

Both crows began to caw loudly and flapped wildly.

"Too bad they don't change to chickens. I've been craving some fried chicken for the last three days. Or even fish... I saw this one show where these Japanese restaurant workers would boil fish and serve them while they were still, technically, alive." I replied.

Fortunately, Elizabeth walked out with medium sized Tupperware box with some holes cut into the securable lid.

"Will this work?" She asked and handed me the Tupperware.

"It's a little small." I began. "But I'm sure they won't mind." I said and gestured to Mauricio who pulled both birds down.

I kept the rope on their talons as I endured two pecks as I arranged both crows on the seven by seven by four, mostly cubed, Tupperware container and put the lid on.

Both crows cawed as I placed the lid and closed the four clips that held the lid in place. I lifted the container to eye level and looked at both crows that didn't have any room to move in any way. I had added some extra holes on the bottom and sides of the container to make sure they didn't suffocate.

"Even they don't deserve that." Elizabeth said. "Let me look for something bigger."

"No, it's fine." Mauricio said.

"Both of them are being squeezed in there. They can't even move." Elizabeth replied.

"Both of these women killed so many men, women, and children. They found this one girl was aqua phobic and didn't know how to swim so these two placed her in a Rubbermaid container, cut a hole in the lid, attached a garden hose to the hole and drowned the girl while laughing." Mauricio said, in a sour voice as he tossed the Tupperware container at me.

I caught it and examined both crows, one of which looked like it would have been crying in pain if it could.

"That is horrible!" Elizabeth cried out.

"Yeah. I got there just as the girl stopped moving. I could have caught them then but I tried to bring the girl back to life. I had taken a CPR class a year back but I wasn't able to bring her back." Mauricio said sadly. "So this is just fine for them. In fact, I would prefer if you have something smaller."

"I'm sure I could find something." Elizabeth said and looked at me.

"No, this is fine." I said and placed the Tupperware on a lawn chair. "What will you guys do with them?"

"Execute them, I hope." Mauricio said. "Lord knows that Bohemi will not be happy to see them again. I think that he'll have to think of something pretty extreme to try and please the families of the people they killed."

"There are whole families living there?" I asked.

"Oh yes. Most of them are to breed and keep their species alive but some move their human families there as Bohemi offers them free, in facility, housing as long as at least one of their family members is working there."

"I have no idea of what to make about this Bohemi man." I said.

"He's an okay guy." Mauricio said. "I mean, he hired a fool like me, didn't he?" Mauricio said and picked the Tupperware up , snarled at the two crows in it, and tossed it in the air, making sure it spam as fast as it could before he caught it again.

"They said something about us not knowing Sarah's real name. What did they mean? And why did you snap at them when they spoke in that weird language."

Mauricio sighed and placed the Tupperware on the table, on its side, and slowly began to spin it.

"Don't hate me okay." He started.

Elizabeth and I stared at each other and sat down on the two lawn chairs on the other side of my outdoor table.

"Sarah... Was born with a twin brother who is probably about twelve minutes older than her." He began.

"Yes, we know that. Can you stop that?" I said as Mauricio stopped spinning the two crows, in the Tupperware, and let it drop. Both cross eyed birds looked around wildly as they regained their sight.

"Well the boy was, slash is, Kaleb. Kaleb Wilmingson. He got his last name from his parents, naturally, who in turn got their last name from the couple that took care of them. Fluffy, who you call Sarah, is the younger twin sister to Kaleb. So Kaleb Wilmingson is the older brother while... Gale... Gale Wilmingson is, or was, the younger sister."

"Her real name is Gale?" I asked.

"I heard Rána say that name when we were talking to Kioril."

"It doesn't matter though, not really. That was just the names given to them by Kioril, who was in charge of taking care of them. He only named them that because his own late brother and sister were named Kaleb and Gale. It was either that or calling them Subject 723 and Subject 724."

"He didn't say anything about Sarah's name when we mentioned it to him." I said.

Mauricio shrugged and tapped the Tupperware once with his middle finger. "Kioril is an interesting one. He's a mystery wrapped in another mystery wrapped in an enema."

Elizabeth snorted a laugh.

"What?" Mauricio asked.

"You mean an enigma." She replied.

"What did I say?" Mauricio asked and looked from Elizabeth and me.

"You said enema. An enema is when they give you medicine or something through the...um...rear end." She explained.

"Oh... Yeah, wait... Ew! Why would they do that? Nothing should ever go up in there, not for us guys anyway!" Mauricio protested.

"Hey! Girls don't want anything going up there either!" Elizabeth said and shook her head, which made her long wavy ginger hair flap. "Well, most of us... There are those weird ones."

Mauricio stared at me and I shook my head.

"Well, thanks for the info I didn't need. Now I understand why that succubus chick laughed at me when I told her that I was an enema, instead of an enigma." Mauricio said as he stood up and arched his back.

"Yup, wait, succubus chick?" Elizabeth asked in a horrified tone.

"Yup. Mmm Shakespeare." He said dreamily and didn't realize that he was leaning on the Tupperware and actually caused it to be squished until both crows gave muffled caws in alarm. "Well, I've got to go." He said and changed back into his human form and saluted us before walking though the broken part of the fence and down the alley.

"Come back tomorrow to help me fix the fence!" I yelled out.

"What? I didn't hear you!" Mauricio said loudly and walked faster.

"You heard me!" I said.

"Fine." I heard him say and saw the Tupperware fly up into the air twice.

"Do you think that he'll stop playing with that at all?" Elizabeth asked as we could hear the plastic case be dragged along the wire fences that my neighbors had.

"Doubt it... Next thing you know, he'll be trying to roll it down the alley." I had barely said when Mauricio explained in excitement.

"Look at it go!"

"You're hurt." Elizabeth said and lifted my chin with her hand to examine my throat.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." I replied and brought my hand up to where the cut was.

"I'll get the alcohol. Can't have it getting infected." Elizabeth said and got up then walked inside.

I sat there and tried to listen to Mauricio but wasn't able to anymore.

"Gale..." I whispered. "I had an ex named Gale... I like Sarah better, anyway."

Elizabeth walked out with rubbing alcohol and some cotton swabs.

I suddenly remembered why I hate being hurt. It wasn't because it was painful or because of the possibility of bodily damage but because there was always some woman in my life that wanted to put rubbing alcohol on it.

I hissed at the touch and Elizabeth stopped.

"Why did you stop?" I asked.

"It looked like it hurt." She replied.

"Yeah but don't stop. It'll be faster that way."

She finished disinfecting it and I put some cloth around my neck to cover it, at least until Monday.

I kissed her and lead us inside. Elizabeth closed the door behind her and we both headed to our bathroom to brush our teeth.

"What if Mauricio throws that container into the air... Misses it... So it breaks open and both women go flying away?" Elizabeth asked me In between brushes. She bit down on the brush and adjusted her long hair into a ponytail.

"Nah...well maybe, knowing him. Man we sure do have a weird life." I replied and spat out some toothpaste. We were out of toothpaste so we had to use some of Sarah's. Technically, it was the same thing but the "FOR KIDS" on the label meant that it had little chunks that did who knows what.

"Yeah. It's okay though. That just means that being a housewife in the Cera/Belmont household isn't boring. Are you exited for next month?" Elizabeth asked me.

"Yeah." I replied and began to floss.

Elizabeth had been going out, almost as long as we've had Sarah, so about a year and a half now. I proposed to her on December of last year and was to be married on November the 7th.

"You don't sound excited." She pointed out.

"I'm a guy. I don't do that whole jumping for joy mess." I replied. "I get excited in my own subtle way."

"I've seen how you get excited, and it isn't subtle."

"Now who has a dirty mind?"

She blew a raspberry. "Not like that, dork. Remember how you got when soccer season came around?"

"Hey! Soccer is the most interesting thing in the world. It's hard to not get excited over that. When we have our first son, I'll sign him up for the junior leagues."

"I've wanted to tell you... I'm a little under a week late." She said.

"Really?" I asked. "Have you done the test?"

"No, I'll go out and buy one tomorrow. We could always have Mauricio sniff me again. You know, for confirmation." She suggested.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be awkward at all."

"What do you think that those women want with Sarah... Gale?"

" Her name is Sarah. Sarah Cera not Gale Mc. Blahblabblahblah..."

"You forgot the last name didn't you?"

"Maybe..."

"Wilmington... No its Wilmingson."

"I knew that..."

"Mmhmm."

"Her name is Sarah Cera, a bit of an oversight but that's her name."

"We should have given her a middle name. Something cute like Alana or Dolores."

"Dolores isn't cute."

"Why not?"

"It means 'Pains' in Spanish."

"You and your Spanish. What does Elizabeth mean in Spanish?"

"Elizabeth."

"And Carlos?"

"Carlos, and before you ask, Sarah still means Sarah."

"Oh... What about Cera?"

"Well Cera." I began and pronounced the word Cera in Spanish. "Means wax. Kinda like car wax or cleaning wax or something."

"Really? What does Belmont mean?"

"Red headed white girl with freckles and gets sun burn easily."

She shoved me playfully then wrapped her hands around me from behind and just stood there.

"I love you, Carlos Cera."

I placed my hands over hers then took one and lifted it to my lips and kissed it. "I love you too Elizabeth Belmont. I promise that I'll teach you some Spanish after we're married, so you don't feel left out.

"I actually bought this cd that I listen to when driving to the store and stuff. Sarah is actually helping me with it. Imagine that... I'm learning Spanish from a two year old."

"She is a smart two year old. She knows more Spanish now than most two and three year olds do." I replied.

"Yeah. I wonder if our kid will be that smart."

"Probably not. I mean I will be his father remember, and you still have to remind me to grab my keys on the way out."

She chuckled and came around, stood on her tip toes and kissed me. "I'm headed to bed."

"I'll check on Chika and join you in a bit."

She opened the bathroom door and closed as she walked to our bedroom. I rinsed my mouth and walked out and down the hall and into Sarah's room. I slowly pushed the slightly opened door all the way and walked in. Sarah wasn't covered correctly so I pulled her covers off and over her again, then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Buenas noches, m'ija." I said and walked out.


	6. Chapter 6: Do I Do? Yes I Do

_Chapter 6_: **Do I Do? Yes I Do**.

I hung the phone up and sighed. The calls to my mother are rarely exiting. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love her but I just don't like getting reminded that I haven't brought Elizabeth or Sarah over to meet them. I haven't done so because my mother was old school Mexican, meaning; that she would criticize the hell out of whoever I went out with, even before she got to know her, simply because she wasn't Mexican herself. To her a pale ginger and a daughter that is half cat would be as far from a Mexican as you could get.

My father passed away when I turned 20, great birthday gift by the way.

My mother didn't remarry but she does spend a lot of time with her new boyfriend. My mom and Antonio had been friends for years and stuff just kind of fell into place in the following years.

"How was your mum?" Elizabeth asked me as she passed by an held a clothing basket in her hands.

"Mum?" I asked and opened the door that led from the kitchen and into the utility room.

"Mom, sorry. I've been reading Green's stuff again."

"She's okay. Her and Antonio got back from Mexico two days ago."

"Did she want you to..." She continued and groaned as she turned the basket over and dumped the clothing into the washing machine, "visit her so she could meet me and Sarah?"

"Yeah."

She sighed and dropped the basket on the ground then turned the washing machine on and turned around as she put her hands on her waist and looked at me. "Why don't we go visit them? It'll be fun."

"I don't know. My ma has a very narrow view for us, when it came to having a family. She still doesn't understand why I didn't go out with a Mexican chick. I don't know how she would react when she sees Chika."

"Yeah... Wait, I thought you said that she was cool with us getting married. You said that she gave you her blessing and all."

"She did...but she keeps trying to hook me up with her friends daughters."

She cocked her hip and stared at me.

"Relax. None of them are good looking enough for me to cheat on you with." I said and smiled.

She scoffed and picked her basket up and tried walking passed me but I stopped her by grabbing her arm and turning her around.

"Plus I like my women, pale, freckled and ginger." I said and kissed her.

She groaned and dropped the basket and kissed me back. We made our way back into the utility room and I lifted her onto the washing machine that just started spinning. I kissed her and passed my hands on her sides and traced her curves.

She began to unbutton my shirt slowly then hurried.

I placed my hand inside of her light blue sweat pants and traced the outline of her panties on her hip when the door knob on slowly turned.

We both stopped and turned to look at Sarah who stared back at us. She was almost three now and began to dress herself. She made me look like I had a fashion sense, as she wore black and pink polka dot tights under a loose shirt and a pink tutu. She had three pigtails and one of my ties hung around her neck. She looked like she just got into a fight with a fashion tornado and, not only lost but, gave up and dared it to do its worse.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked and shifted her head.

"We...um..." Elizabeth said.

"We were making you another brother or sister." I said bluntly.

"Ooh, can I watch?" She asked and bounced a little.

"Sure." I joked.

"No!" Elizabeth snapped and pushed me then jumped off the spinning washing machine. "You are too young for that, plus you should be getting ready for daycare."

"I am ready." Sarah said and span around so we could get a look at her improvised Halloween costume.

"I think that she gets her fashion sense from you." Elizabeth said and looked at me as she walked passed.

"Yeah, we'll she gets her curiosity from you." I replied.

She walked away and escorted Sarah back into her room.

I walked down the hall and stared at them as Elizabeth nagged Sarah until she took the costume off and changed into some pants and shirt that Elizabeth picked out for her.

Elizabeth convinced Sarah to lose a pigtail and take off the tutu, tights and fake Where's Waldo shirt but would not remove the tie. So I gave her one that would match her outfit and kissed her on the forehead.

"Now you look like a person." I said.

Sarah giggled and waved her tail playfully.

"It's almost 8, Carlos, you should probably go." Elizabeth said and stood up then put her hand on her midsection. She was a little over a month pregnant now and barely had any signs of it.

"Yeah, I can take a hint." I said and turned to walk out of the room.

I grabbed the blue and gray lunch bag and tossed it over my arm and placed the black laptop under my arm and turned to kiss Elizabeth.

Sarah walked up to me to jumped slightly and smiled gingerly up at me.

I put my laptop on the countertop and picked her up and hugged her tight.

Sarah giggled and hugged me back.

"Have a good day, daddy!" Sarah said and kissed me in the cheek.

"You too Chika. Change for me, would you." I replied and held her at arm's length.

She nodded and closed her eyes. Her cat ears shifted downwards and changed to her skin color as they took their place on the side of her head. Her tail simply shrunk back into her lower back and disappeared completely.

We had been taking her to daycare some more and she had more or less learned how to appear like a regular human. Not for good, of course. She would only be able to hold that form for a few hours before her head started hurting and she would simply change back.

"A Darkstalkers real form is the form that their mothers wore when they gave birth to the child." Marge, the daycare lady had said a Few weeks back. "Apparently, Sarah's mother was only partially transformed when she gave birth to Sarah because she is able to conjure up some fur and even paws." Although she is better at hiding her features than making more appear.

"Good girl." I said and patted her head, her regular, everyday brown human head. I didn't have to shift my fingers or adjust my hand to fit in between her ears. I could honestly say that I didn't like it at all but I never said anything.

I put her down and walked out to my car then put my lunch bag on top of the car's hood and remembered that I forgot my laptop so I walked back and opened the door where I saw Sarah holding my laptop towards me.

She smiled and giggled as I took it and thanked her. I walked back to my car and put my laptop next to my bag and stuck my hand to where my keys should be then sighed and walked back and inside of my house.

Elizabeth smiled at me with one hand on her cocked hip and the other held out with my keys dangling from one finger.

"You also forgot your wallet." She said and handed me my wallet and keys.

"Thanks." I said and grabbed both items and walked back out.

I took two steps and turned around, walked back inside and kissed Elizabeth quickly then walked out for, what I hoped was, the last time.

-0-

"So am I invited to your wedding, Carlos?" Joe asked as he ate some Chinese food during our late lunch.

"Sure, Elizabeth is doing that thing where you need an invitation to enter. I swear you white people have weird traditions." I replied.

"Hey, we do things right. You Mexicans will get it right one day." He replied with a mouth full of noodles.

I flipped him off and ate the lunch that Elizabeth packed for me.

"So how many invites will you need?" I asked. "Two? One for you and one for the Mrs.?"

He winked on eye and looked upwards as he thought about it while mouthing to himself.

"Do I need one for kids?" He asked.

"I think so..." I replied.

He thought about it some more.

"Well I need four for us: Dezirée, me, Peter and Hannah. Plus two more for my sister and her Fiancé. Then Dezirée will want to invite her family so that'll be her older sister and her husband and their five kids. Then her twin brothers and their wives, correction; wife. Only one is married. So that's four more plus one of their kid... Then she'll want to bring her cousins, because they're so close. So...four for her cousins and their spouses plus their kids... Umm... Terra, Caleb, Kirah, Soria, Whatshername, Josh, Andrew, uh...Wilson...uh...and Anne. I think. So... Oh and her other cousins Senna and Feliz and their spouses... Senna has three boys and Feliz has the one girl. So that's like 46 there..."

"Holy crap!" I let out. "She's got a huge family."

"Yeah... Oh wait. She has other cousins... Iris, Sam and Manuel. So that's three more plus their spouses so that's six... And they have like 12 kids between them so... 46 plus 18..." He continued.

I grabbed a calculator and had him repeat the names three times and we averaged about 64.

"That's a lot of paper... Emeli, imma need to use the printer for an hour!" I joked.

"My ass!" She said and leaned back to look at us. "You're not using company paper to print out your wedding invitations... Unless I'm invited."

"As long as your family isn't as big as Joe's wife's." I replied.

"Nah, only three." She replied.

"Cool." I said.

"Oh and that's assuming that she's not going to invite the parents."

"Man, we'll have a whole row for your wife's family, won't we?" I asked.

"Pretty much. Imagine my surprise when I told her to invite her family over for a cook out. I had to go get more meat three times." He replied and groaned when some orange chicken fell on his white shirt.

"Did they bring stuff?" I asked.

"Yeah, we had about 40 bags of chips, 30 trays of potato salad... So much potato salad... Who knows how much regular salad... Gallons of soda. At least a thousand paper plates and cups. It was fun though... So many animal people...

"Yeah... Wait what?" I began as my phone vibrated.

It was a message from Elizabeth asking me if I went to pick Sarah up.

"Oh shit!" I let out and turned around to turn my computer off.

"You forgot your daughter again didn't you?" Joe asked as he turned around.

"Yeah, I'll have to finish this at home." I replied. "Emeli..."

"Yeah, yeah... We're a week ahead, get out of here." She replied while staring at her computer monitor and wondering why two verticals lines were about a 1/256th of an inch apart.

"Nobody, is going to see that, Emeli, leave it alone." Joe nagged.

"I will and it'll bug me." She replied as I walked out.

-0-

I walked into the daycare and the secretary girl welcomed me by name.

"Hi, Carlos, here for Sarah?" She asked and stood up.

"No, I just wanted some free Thin Mints." I said and took three from the tray. "But I might as well pick her up, since I'm here."

She laughed and led me to room 4 and opened the door for me.

A lot of kids looked at me quickly and went back to what they were doing.

"Daddy!" Sarah let out and dropped the upside down Ken doll she had been holding while playing with another girl.

I picked her up and hugged her to me.

"Hey, Chika. How are you? Did the bad employees here whip you again?" I asked.

"No... I don't think so..." Sarah said and looked at me.

"We don't whip here, Carlos." The girl said.

"What about when my fiancée was here last?" I asked.

"That was an accident. How that riders whip got here and how that 4 year old knew what to do with it, is beyond me." She replied.

I laughed and let Sarah down.

"Carlos." A familiar voice said.

I turned around and saw Marge smiling at me.

"Marge, how are you?" I asked.

"Good, can I talk to you?" She asked and walked back into her office.

"Sure." I said and looked at Sarah. "Go play with your friend okay. I'll be back."

She nodded and ran off to kneel next to her friend again and picked up the upside down Ken doll again.

I walked into Marge's office and closed the door behind me.

"What's going on?" Does this have anything to do with Sarah playing with an upside down Ken doll?" I asked.

"No, but Sarah and Dianah play with those dolls for hours." Marge replied.

"Why?"

"Who knows. Their kids, who knows what they're thinking." Marge said and returned to the topic at hand. "I want to talk to you about Sarah's mental situation."

"Why? She isn't psychotic or something is she?"

"No, quite the opposite." She began. "See we have small classes here too. We try and teach the kids the basics, you know; blue is blue, red is red, square is square, two plus two equals four. That sort of thing. But Sarah, has already mastered those things. She's three right?"

"No, two, about to be three."

"Exactly. She isn't even three yet and she could already do what some three and four year olds can't. She is the only kid in that room that can count to ten, without any help. She can list all three primary colors."

"What are the primary colors?"

"Red, blue and green."

"Oh."

"See, but that's what I mean. She even started Multiplying. She can't do more than two times three but its a start. Quite honestly: I have never seen a girl, or any kid, grasp those concepts as quickly as she has."

"So..."

"So... I think that you guys should consider placing her in the first grade when she's three, four in the latest. If things keep up like this, she might even graduate when she's 16 or so."

"Really? I knew she was smart, she can beat that math game on my cell phone like its nothing. I think that she just catches on early though. She is good at copying what we do, which I don't think it's a good thing as she's caught Elizabeth and me spending time together, this morning."

"Well she would have to have some sort of understanding before she could do it herself, it's the same for all of us. I still think that you and Ms. Belmont should think about it. She might even gain some stimulation by watching some painting or musical shows. Get her a drawing set or an instrument or something. I mean it's your kid, to be honest, but you never know how she could turn out in 20 or 30 years."

"That is some good advice. Thanks. Do you think that she would benefit from having other children around?"

"Of course. She's become a whole lot more social since she'a been here. She would keep to herself, at first, but she now has a small circle of friends. Most of them are girls but that's common with most children."

"I see. Elizabeth is pregnant."

"Really? I would never have known." She replied sarcastically.

"...and! I think that having a brother or sister would keep her entertained."

"Probably. Now if you excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

"Yeah, I'm gone too. Take it easy, Marge." I said and stood up.

"You too, Carlos." She said and moved the mouse so her computer wakes up.

Sarah smiled at me when I walked out and ran towards me.

"Ready to go?" I asked her.

She nodded and ran out to get her purple backpack. I looked at her through the window that looked into the class.

Sarah ran up to the girl she had been playing with and talked to her for a second before hugging her and going to pick her backpack up.

I smiled and opened the door then walked towards Sarah.

"Ready?" I asked her.

"Yup." She said and waved goodbye to the other girl who began to put the Barbie and Ken dolls away.

"Your friend looks nice." I stated as I walked out while holding Sarah's hand.

"She is. Her name is Dianah. She says that she sees things that other people don't... Oops... I promised I wouldn't tell." She said and held her hand over her mouth then smiled at me gingerly.

"It's alright. Don't tell your mother though, she might freak out." I replied and opened the door that led outside.

"Why does mommy act so weird when I ask her to show me her cat ears, daddy?" She asked me as I helped her into the car.

"I, um..." I began and stared at her. "Because she doesn't have any."

"Really? Do you have some daddy?" She asked and beamed at me. "Ooh and a tail, show me your tail daddy!"

"I...don't have any of those either, Chika." I replied.

"Oh...why not?"

"Because...I wasn't born with any."

"Oh...why was I born with them then."

My first reaction was to say something like: "Because your parents had them", or "because you're adopted" but I couldn't bring myself to tell her. Not yet.

"Because... You're special, Chika." I told her.

"Oh...like Billy special?" She asked.

"No, I don't see you ramming your head onto a wall to try and kill a fly." I said and remembered seeing that boy knocking himself out. "You're more like a unique case. Well not unique as in nobody is like you but more like there are only a few amount of people like you."

"Oh, kinda like mommy and her being a...um..." She began.

"A ginger?" I suggested.

"Yeah. What is a ginger, anyway? Do they have cat ears and a tail." She asked as I turned the car on.

"A ginger." I began. "Is a person with red hair and freckle. There's something that makes them like that in a genetically code. And I don't think that I've ever seen a ginger with animal parts. Although they are rumored to not have souls."

"Mommy doesn't have a soul?" Sarah asked in alarm and stared at me wide eyed.

"No, no, it's not..." I began.

"So do I have a soul? Since I'm different?" She asked, almost hysterically.

"Listen, muchachita creída, tu madre does have a soul and you do too. That is just an untruthful rumor."

"Do you have a soul, daddy?"

"I hope so...and if I don't then I have you two to keep me honest." I said and patted her head playfully.

She giggled and took my cellphone and began to play the math game. There four difficulties: easy, medium, hard, and expert. Easy would have you do additions. Medium would give both additions and subtractions. Hard throws in some multiplication. Expert adds devision. There are other settings but I have it to where it won't give you more than any quantity over 10.

"I think that I'll try hard today." Sarah said and pushed a button on the touch screen.

"Go for it." I said and slowed down as I passed a photo-radar van.

I learned three things on that drive home; One: An eight of a tank of gas doesn't take you too far. Two: Never try and reach back to get something from the back seat while going 80 on the freeway. And three: I'm a bad teacher.

"So if you have two apples and then someone gives you three times as many apples. Then how many apples do you have?" I asked as I tried to simplify a 2x3 question.

Sarah thought about it for a second and counted with her fingers.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Okay. Umm...you have two apples right? So what's two apples plus two apples?"

"Four... Four apples."

"Plus two more apples."

"Six... Six apples."

"There you go. All you have to do is add the first number by however many times the second number is.

"So what if it's four? Like two times four?"

"Then you do two plus two plus two plus two."

"That...makes sense."

"It's how I remember it." I said. "Just wait till they start throwing x's in there." I said and pulled into our driveway.

"But there's an x now."

"That's to signify the multiplication sign. An x in math is kind of like... 2X=4+X."

"You're making that up... X is a letter, not a number."

"That's what I said. But it's true and it's confusing but you'll understand it."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're smart." I said and opened the door. You know what I was doing when I was your age?"

"Running head first into a wall?"

"No...well maybe but the wall was probably your uncle Roberto and head first probably meant that we had kitchen pans on our head. But we never got caught, that's the important thing. But no, I was... Well who knows what I was doing when I was your age but I'm sure that learning multiplication wasn't it. Man now that I think about it... I didn't learn multiplication until I was in fourth grade. When I was nine."

"Daddy, you were nine once?" Sarah asked without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Oh yeah! Many, many moons ago, Chika. Your mom was too. Although it's been a million and a half years since either of us was nine..."

Elizabeth walked out and dried her hands on a hand towel as she waited for us by the door.

"How long is a million years?"

"A long time."

"Is it more than ten?"

"Yup."

"Hey guys." Elizabeth said and leaned down to hug Sarah. She then stood up and kissed me.

"Mommy, daddy says that you were nine a million years ago, how long ago is a million years and does that mean that you're a million years old?"

I laughed out and walked in then I stopped because I saw an older woman and man sitting on my couch and looking at the scrap book that Elizabeth has been keeping.

"¿Ama?" I asked and practically threw my things onto the recliner and ran over to hug my mother.

"¿M'ijo, como has estado? Hace años que no te vemos."

-0-

My mother, Antonio, and I talked for a few hours. They drove here to come visit because Elizabeth asked them to about a week ago without telling me. Antonio and my mother were impressed at how much Spanish Sarah knew. She was able to have light conversation with them and even joke around a bit. I actually had her go play when she started asking them if they were a million years old like Elizabeth and me.

Elizabeth had to have me translate half the conversation as her Spanish consisted of "Hi, my name is" and "Where's the bathroom" and other simple and useful statements. Although she still didn't know how to say the ñ sound so she we all laughed when she said that has 23 anos.

"So how long are you guys staying?" Elizabeth asked them.

"¿Que dice?" My mother asked me.

"Querré saber quanto tiempo van a estar aquí." I translated.

"Una semana, suficiente para enseñarle como cocinar por ti, m'ijo. Te estas poniendo flaco. ¿Que no te da de comer, esta muchachita?"

I simply laughed.

"What did she say?" Elizabeth asked me.

"They're going to stay about a week. She says that she wants to teach you how to cook for me." I translated.

"Finally! You know that most of the people trying to teach you how to make Mexican food in YouTube only speak Spanish or can't really explain themselves. When do we start?"

"Tomorrows, we estart." My mother said and patted Elizabeth's hand. "But right nows. We'res tired. ¿Tienes un cuarto que podamos dormir, m'ijo? Estamos cansados."

"Claro, vengase por aquí." I said and lead my parents into my spare bedroom where Mauricio had been staying whenever he had dropped by.

I let Antonio and my mother unpack some stuff and told them that I'd wake them for dinner.

"Do you think they like me? Oh I hope they like me. I didn't know that they'd come so early. I was hoping I still had a few more hours before they arrived, does my hair look good? I should have washed it a second time." Elizabeth stammered nervously. She would have kept going if I didn't kiss her in the mouth.

"Honey, m'ija, they loved you. Trust me, if they didn't then they wouldn't have even come over or they would have told me so. My mother wasn't ever one to not speak her mind.

"¡Huele a perro!" My mother said from inside the room and sprayed something.

"What?" Elizabeth asked me.

"She says that it smells like dog." Sarah said as she walked down the hall in her jammies then sat on the couch and turned on the TV and put some cartoons. She didn't bother hiding her animal parts as she sat there and gazed at the TV and shifted into zombie mode. I always thought that her feline side made her overly curious so she got fixated on certain things that interested her.

"What do you think that they'll say when they see Sarah's cat parts?" Elizabeth asked. "I mean, she isn't able to control her transformation whenever she gets like this."

"Yeah, I don't know. I think that she'll freak out at first then accept it." I replied.

"I wonder if she could just not do anything that'll attract her entire concentration while they're around. Sarah come here right quick." Elizabeth said.

"I'll be there in my room when the SpongeBob underwater with...tomorrow." Sarah mumbled but never took her eyes off the TV. Her cat ears shifted left and right once in a while but would always droop back onto her head.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know. Hold on I got an idea." I said and tapped my hand on the kitchen countertop.

Sarah's cat ears bolted upright and shifted towards the direction of the noise before drooping slowly. I tapped the countertop again with similar results.

"I still don't fully know if she's a cat who is a girl or a girl who is a cat." Elizabeth stated.

"She... Is the girl who is a cat who is our daughter." I said and threw a spoon behind her and smiled when her ears bolted upright and shifted around her head.

"Man, I wonder if she'll be this way when she gets a hobby."

"Probably." I replied and turned the TV off.

Sarah blinked a few times then looked up at me.

"Hi, daddy, what's up?" She asked and stretched.

"Sarah. We are going to show your animal parts to your grandparents. I really do not have any idea how they might react so please do not be scared or sad at whatever they might or might not say or do, okay?" I informed her.

"Okay." She said and began dangling her feet. "When are you going to tell them?"

"Tonight or tomorrow maybe. It's better to tell my mother strength out instead of waiting. She gets less mad at you that way." I said.

"Uhuh... Anyway, imma get started on dinner. I'm thinking Mexican food, or maybe a stew." Elizabeth said as she opened the refrigerator.

"In Mexico, we just call it food." I said.

"When was the last time you were in Mexico?" She asked me.

"That doesn't matter." I replied.

"Oh yeah, it was back when you were 12." She informed me.

"Hey, I've been there twice... That's twice as much as you have."

"Yeah, yeah. But how many times have you been to Europe?" She asked me.

"Well there was that- hey Chika, the TV's off, let's watch some TV." I said and turned the TV back on and began to watch cartoons with Sarah.

-0-

I woke up a few hours later while laying on the couch. Sarah lay over my midsection with her cat parts still out. She sucked her thumb slowly as she slept. I smiled and stroked her hair and she shifted slightly and began to purr quietly.

"La muchacha es partir gata. ¿Verdad, Carlos?"

I flinched slightly and looked towards my recliner and saw Antonio sitting there and admiring Sarah's cat ears.

I spent the next few minutes explaining Sarah's origins to him in a semi-quiet tone so I don't wake Sarah up.

The front door opened and Elizabeth in some light blue sweat pants and a female muscle shirt. Walked in from her daily evening jog. She wasn't even two months pregnant so it wasn't easy to see her baby bump unless you knew that she was pregnant. She panted slightly then gasped quickly when she noticed Antonio and Sarah.

"Hi." Elizabeth said.

"Hi." Antonio replied. "You like to run?"

"Yeah, we'll it gives me something to do. Plus it keeps me in shape. So I guess you know." Elizabeth said and wiped some sweat off and looked at Sarah.

"Yes." Antonio said. He knew a lot more English than my mother did so he would have to do most of the talking whenever they traveled. "I have never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, well she's a special case. Carlos can I talk to you for a second?" She said and untied her long red hair from its ponytail and let it fall and dangle everywhere.

"Um... I kinda can't." I said and gestured at Sarah who's snored slightly, I scratched her right ear lightly and she shook her right foot twice then stopped.

"My dear." Antonio began. "I am not scared or disturbed by your child. I am actually curious at how she feels about it."

I stared at Elizabeth who looked back at me. We never actually asked Sarah how she felt about being who and what she was. She never complained but that might be because she was used to it by now.

"Well, imma head back to bed before your mother wakes up. She helped me drive here, you know." He said as he stood up, stretched and walked back into the extra room.

"He seems cool with it." I told Elizabeth who was busy untangling her hair.

"Yeah, he's not your stepfather, right?" She asked as she yanked her fingers out of her hair.

"No. I don't think my ma will actually remarry." I said. "I wonder how she'll take it."

"Don't know. Do you think that Sarah enjoys being half animal? Or even the fact that we're trying to have her hide her real self." Elizabeth asked as she sat down next to me.

"I don't know. What I do know is that a certain girl is pretending to be sleeping so she can over hear us." I said and tickled Sarah who giggled loudly.

"How did you know?" Sarah asked me.

"You snore." I replied.

"I do not! Only boys snore, that's what mommy said." Sarah yawned.

"Yeah well you do. It's light but it's there... You also purr sometimes." I added.

"What's purring?" Sarah asked.

"It's a sound a cat makes." Elizabeth replied as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Oh."

-0-

I was about to ask her if she enjoyed being half animal when the door to the extra room opened and my mother came out.

Sarah made a sound in between yelping and hissing and quickly made her animal parts hide.

"M'ijo. ¿Que hora son?" She asked.

"Las siete quince." Sarah replied and smiled a her.

"¡Tan inteligente!" My mother let out and walked over to pat Sarah's head.

"Hi, Mrs. Cera." Elizabeth said as she stirred something on a large pan.

"Hi, Elizabeth. Need helps?" My mother asked.

"Actually yes. Do you guys use basil in your stew?" Elizabeth asked.

"Cual stew ni que stew, hay que hacer un caldo. I'll go helps. What is basil?" My mother said as she walked into the kitchen and pulled out some oregano and Tapatillo from her purse.

"Sarah listen to me." I said.

"Oh oh. Serious face time." Sarah said and pulled a face.

"Yeah." I said. "I am going to tell your abuela about your cat parts and I have no idea how she will react. So if you get scared or something, I want you to go to your room, okay?"

"Okay."

I called my mother over who said that she would be right over but I had to wait 20 minutes before she stopped telling Elizabeth how to cook for a Hispanic man and came over.

I spent half an hour talking to my ma before I actually told her about Sarah's animal parts.

The conversation was put on hold when my mother exclaimed "Dios mío" for the 20th time. Not at Sarah but because Elizabeth kept asking questions.

My mother sat on the sofa and stroked Sarah's cat ears as Sarah smiled gingerly back. I went into the kitchen and talked to Elizabeth.

"So, what do you think?" Elizabeth asked me as she had stopped making the stew that tasted weird because of the clash of ingredients and spices. Anything from potatoes and onions to yucca and habanero. My mother started to show her how to make some enchiladas.

"I think it went well. She likes cats so that helped." I replied.

"Yeah well she's here to accept her granddaughter, not to adopt another cat." Elizabeth replied and rolled an enchilada.

"True." I said and began to help her.

My mother and Sarah talked for a while, in both Spanish and English. It was interesting listening to them talk because my mother immediately began to ask her how Elizabeth was treating her.

My mother, like most other older Mexican women, were a little xenophobic and since Elizabeth seemed weird to my mother as she didn't originate from past the US border.

We sat for dinner and my mother honestly asked me if Sarah ate with us or if we normally had a cat bowl for her to eat from.

My mother tried teaching Sarah how to eat with a fork and was actually impressed that she already knew. She held it wrong, like most kids, but she knew none the less.

My mother also served some soda for the adults and reluctantly served a glass of milk to Sarah.

"Eww, no thank you." Sarah said and pushed the glass of milk away.

"She doesn't like milk." Elizabeth said and put her hand over her mouth when some rice fell out.

"No? Why you no like milk, Sarah?" My mother asked.

"It's nasty." Sarah said and drank from some of my Sangria and pulled a face. "I think i'd rather have the milk."

"I think." Antonio began. "That she doesn't like the whole milk. Try getting some 2% or something. That's what I did with my daughter."

"That could work." I said and pushed my plate aside. "Ya, I'm done, ya termine."

"Que bueno." My mother said and reached for the plate just as Elizabeth did.

"I got this, Mrs. Cera. You're a guest." Elizabeth said.

"No, it's okay." My mother said and tugged slightly on the plate. "I can helps, I am his mother."

"Ama, deja el plato." I said. "I'll get it.

"¿Como que 'I'll get it.' dile que me lo de, Carlitos." my mother said.

A slight but actual argument started over wether my mother or my fiancée would have the honor of washing my plate. I would get shot down whenever I informed them that I could do it so I stopped offering. Antonio and I refused to give any advice either way and I covered Sarah's mouth when they asked her.

Overall it was a nice dinner.

-0-

"Dude, your tie is on wrong." Roberto said as he adjusted the tie as I buttoned my tux.

Roberto was my older brother. He was also 340 pounds of Hispanic inside of an expensive suit that he had on lay-a-way for about a year now. His hair was short and neat, along with a gotee for facial hair. He actually looked good on his black on black suit while I just tried to not look like a fool on my black and white tux.

It was November the 6th, marriage day eve (not sure if that's a real word or group of words but it was the day before I got married). I didn't want to throw a bachelor party or anything, I wasn't big on parties plus I wouldn't have fun without drinking and I promised Elizabeth that I wouldn't drink when she wasn't around if she stopped bugging me to watch some chick flick when I was watching anime or a scary movie or a movie with a lot of shooting and building that blow up.

"I still think that we should have thrown you a party, fool. I mean getting all pedo could do you some good." Roberto said and pulled on my tux tail twice.

"No, I'm good. Plus who would take care of Chika while Lizzie is out buying woman stuff with her mom?" I replied and gestured towards Sarah who walked into the living room.

"Daddy, what's longry?" She asked.

"Longry? What's that?" I asked.

"Don't know." She said while shrugging and pulling a face. "I heard mommy and grandma talking about some laungargery or something."

"Lencería." Roberto said and punched me in the arm. "You guys are gonna be busy tomorrow night!"

I thought about it for a second until it clicked: Lencería is Spanish for lingerie.

"Wow..." I replied.

"You guys going to be busy tomorrow night? Can I help?" Sarah asked gingerly.

Roberto laughed. "No, nena, this is something that your parents must do on their own. You are going to stay with me and and your tía for a few days. It's time you met your cousins anyway."

The door opened and Elizabeth's mother walked in smiling and walked over to hug me.

"Oh, my little girl is getting married, and I couldn't have chosen a better man than you Carlos!" She said then bent down to arrange Sarah's flower girl dress.

"Thanks, Mrs. Belmont." I replied and adjusted the cuffs on my arms.

"Is it safe to come in?" Elizabeth asked as she walked in and covered her eyes with her hand so she wouldn't see me.

"Honey it's okay to see the groom before the wedding." Mrs. Belmont said.

Elizabeth tripped on one of Sarah's toys but quickly regained her footing then took her hand away and smiled at me.

She looked beautiful: this was the first time that I've actually seen her in full make up and beauty salon hair. She had some light eye liner as well as a light shade of powder on her face which made it seem rounder and fuller somehow. She had light red blush marks that combined greatly with her long and ironed hair, which looked great after getting used to her long curly red hair.

"Santa madre..." Roberto and I mumbled at the same time and stared at Elizabeth who blushed brightly.

"Do you like it?" She asked.

"Love it." Roberto said. "Oh, I mean don't mind me."

"I love it!" I said. "You look beautiful."

"Yeah, mommy, you look awesome!" Sarah said and bounced up and down.

"Really? You really mean it?" She asked and tilted her head to look at her temporarily strengthened hair.

"Yeah, I mean your regular gingerly ginger hair looks great but this is great." I said.

"Oh, Carlos, you're such a sweetheart." Mrs. Belmont said.

The doorbell rang and we all looked at each other.

"It's the strippers." Roberto said.

"You guys ordered strippers anyway?" Elizabeth said quickly.

"No, Roberto is being a fool... Right?" I asked.

"Yeah... I mean, I'm pretty sure I canceled." He said as Mrs. Belmont opened the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" She asked.

I couldn't hear what the person on the other side was saying so I leaned to look and hoped that it wasn't a busty woman in a cop uniform.

I saw Sarah smile as her cat ears perked up and shifted backwards as her tail waved slightly. She stood up and ran to the recliner and stood on the armrest and, before I could tell her to get down, she jumped over Mrs. Belmonts head and out the door.

I heard someone grunt on the other side then heard. "Baby Sarah, this is the first time I saw you in a dress! And here I thought that you were a boy, all this time."

"No! I'm a girl, not a boy." Sarah said.

Elizabeth and I looked at each other and smiled.

Mrs. Belmont opened the door wide and Mauricio was standing on the other end with Sarah in his arms. She giggled and kicked as Mauricio tossed her over his shoulder and held her there.

"Mauricio, where have you been?" I asked and walked over to side hug him.

"I've been increasingly busy with- holy crap, Lizzy, you look great!" He said in his amazed look.

"Thanks, Mauricio, it's not too much?" She asked.

"Well it is for Carlos, here." He laughed out as I shoved him lightly. "But seriously, you look great. Exited for your wedding tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but where have you been? Haven't seen you in who knows how long." I said.

"They put me in charge of the...'animals' since Kioril left. It takes up most of my time, while that succubus chick takes up the rest."

"What's a suckonbus?" Sarah asked from behind Mauricio.

"That is a story for later, my question for you is: are you three yet?" Mauricio said playfully.

"No..." Sarah replied playfully. "I'm still two. Will be three in this many months." She held up three fingers on her left hand and her thumb on her right hand.

"Awe, look at who could count. I know how to count too you know." Mauricio said playfully.

"No!" Sarah said with something like amazement in her voice. "Really? Can you count to one hundred?"

"Yup."

"One million?"

"Yup."

"Ten bajillion?"

"Of course!"

"Prove it."

"Chika, I think that it's not time to be counting right now." I said and smiled towards Elizabeth. "Go help your mom unpack what she brought."

"No it's okay, I can do it." Elizabeth replied and turned a little more red.

"It's okay, mommy, I can help." She said and reached out with her hands.

"No, baby, it's okay. I'll just take this to my room okay." Elizabeth replied.

"What did you buy? ¿Lencería?" I asked.

"Um, wait what? What's that?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"¿Quien compro lencería? ¿Elizabeth?" My mother asked as she walked out of her room. "Para que necesitan eso, si como sea van a acabar en pelota."

My brother, Mauricio and I laughed out loud while Mrs. Belmont, Elizabeth and Sarah looked at each other in confusion.

"So this is what it's like to be marrying Ricky Ricardo?" Mrs. Belmont asked Elizabeth.

"Yeah." Elizabeth replied. "He even switches into Spanish mode when he's angry."

"Hey... Ricky Ricardo was Cuban... I'm Mexican." I replied.

"Same difference." Mrs. Belmont said. "Both of you could communicate and use the same language."

I opened my mouth to reply then shrugged in agreement.

"Let's go work on you dress, Lizzie." Mrs. Belmont said and pulled her away while Sarah followed.

My mother, brother and I talked about some marriage stuff. It wasn't anything I wanted to get to as my mother had told me the same stuff when I was growing up: I'm the man of the house, I'm responsible for the household, I need to give her plenty of grandchildren.

I just listened to her ramble. Antonio walked out of the room to help me with my tux. He gave me a small pin that he had received from my father when they were younger. Apparently my mother had no knowledge of it so it actually brought some tears to her eyes.

Mrs. Belmont and my mother didn't say much to each other but they did agree that Elizabeth should sleep with them in their hotel room and I should sleep in the house so we spend the night apart. I really didn't know what to make of it but i just took it as some sort of tradition on their part so we agreed. Well I agreed and Elizabeth copied because that's just what she does.

I wasn't able to fall asleep until about one in the morning when Sarah quietly walked into my room and and crawled into bed with me. I held her close and smiled when she wrapped her tail around my arm (as she would do when she was a baby) and slowly went to sleep as I heard my brother and Mauricio snoring in the living room.

-0-

"Carlos, wake up, dude it's like two hours before your wedding." Roberto as he threw my bedroom door open.

I bolted upright and accidentally tossed Sarah off me. I heard a small ripping noise as she dug her nails into the mattress as she hit it and bounce off then hit the floor.

"Ow!" She exclaimed.

"Good going. Wait I thought cats landed I their feet." Roberto said and lifted Sarah onto his arms. I smiled and noticed that she didn't even try to wrap her tail around his arm, it was a gesture that she barely ever did now but she still would once in a while.

"I wasn't ready." Sarah said and removed the linen shards that were attached to her nails.

"Holy, crap! Carlos wake up it's late... Oh... Never mind." Mauricio exclaimed as he ran into my room.

"Thanks, Mauricio." I said and stood up. I took Sarah from Roberto and tossed her back first over the bed. She twisted and landed on all fours then stood up and held her hands out triumphantly.

"See! I can do it when I'm ready." Sarah announced.

"¡M'ijo, levántate ya es tarde!". My mother said as she stood by my door.

"Gracias ama." I replied and smiled at her as she walked off.

"Everyone get out, I've got to get dressed. Sarah, you bring me your dress so I could help you get dressed. If I don't then your mother will gouge my eyes out with her fingernails." I said.

Roberto made a whipping noise as he and Mauricio walked out. Sarah walked out and into her room to grab her dress and I took the time to change my boxers.

"Daddy, your guys' shower is different than mine." Sarah said from inside of the shower while I stood on the other side of the bathroom and shaved.

"Yeah, you're just used to the other one." I said and wiped some of the steam that fogged the mirror.

"Ooh can I invite Dianah? I'm sure she's not doing anything today." Sarah said.

"Sure. Just call her dad after I help you get dressed okay. We'll pass by picking her up." I said and trimmed my goatee. After about ten minutes, I looked like what I was: a well dressed Mexican-American.

"Daddy, why did mommy sleep with other grandma and grandpa?" Sarah asked as she turned the water off.

"It's a tradition her parents have, I think. Who knows. All I know is that you need to hide your animal parts today, okay baby."

"Okay, daddy. Can you...umm let me get dressed?" She asked me.

"Ask me in Spanish." I said.

"Um..."

"Never mind. Just get ready fast because I need to take a shower too." I said and walked out.

I laid out my tux and stared at it for a few minutes Buford laying out Sarah's dress then flipped it over because it was backwards then flipped it back again as it was right the first time.

Sarah walked out with a plain t-shirt and her jammy bottoms. I smiled at her then patted her head as I walked into the shower.

I showered in a little over fifteen minutes then got out and dried myself and reexamine myself on the mirror.

"Daddy, can you comb me? Mommy was going to do it this morning but she's not here." Sarah said from the other side of the door.

"Sure." I said and walked out wearing a muscle shirt and my boxers.

I had her kneel in front of me, facing away as I passed the comb by her long brown hair.

"Mommy usually combs it one hundred times or something like that." Sarah said.

"Chinge su madre, one hundred times. Chika, you're getting the extended guy version this time." I replied.

"What's that?" Sarah asked.

"Seven and a half times, y di que te fue bien." I replied and patted her back so she would stand up.

Her dress was on backwards so I had her tuck her hands inside of the dress and flipped it around the. Flipped it back when Sarah told me that it was wrong.

-0-

I drove down until I was on the outside of chapel, place, location, thing and parked the car and adjusted Sarah's hair scrungee things and walked out. I walked over and opened the door for Sarah and her friend, Dianah, and helped them out.

I took Sarah's and Dianah's hand as we crossed the street and handed my keys to Mr. Belmont who waited for me outside of the chapel entrance.

"Carlos. It's good to see you. And you brought dessert." Mr. Belmont joked.

"I'm not dessert, I'm the flower girl!" Sarah said and lifted the empty basket.

"Oh yes, sorry about that, Sarah." Mr. Belmont said.

"Is Elizabeth here yet?" I asked.

"No. Her mother and her aren't here yet. Something about hair spray or something. I really don't know." He replied and motioned us in.

We were the third ones there; after Mr. Belmont, the priest and my boss.

I spent a while talking with them all before anyone else showed up.

"Carlos! Can you tell him to let us in? I left our invitations at home." Joe Longfist said while saving from outside of the chapel.

"This is supposed to be invitation only, awe screw it." Mr. Belmont said. "Get in there before I start charging."

"Thank you." Joe said and led his wife in.

His wife, Desirée Longfist, wore a simple blue dress with some high heels and pulled a boy and a girl behind her.

The boy was named Peter: a short boy with cereal bowl blond hair and dimples. He walked along wide eyed and curious. He wore some neatly ironed pants and a checkered blue and white dressing shirt. The girl was Hannah: a tall girl with long blond hair and no dimples and wearing a simple dress and some small heeled shoes.

"Carlos! We're here buddy." Joe said and shook my hand before we side hugged.

"I can see that." I replied sarcastically. "I'm getting married, not blind."

"Well, just cheat on Lizzy and those will be flipped." He replied. "I believe you had already met Desirée."

"Once. Christmas last year." I said and hugged her.

"Congratulations, Carlos." She said then gasped as we pulled away.

I did too as some of my curly hair got stuck in one of her five earrings on her right ear.

I felt Desirée grab her ear as Joe walked over and freed it. "Well that never happens." He said sarcastically.

"It's okay. Sorry about that, Desirée." I said.

"It's okay, some of these won't close all the way anymore. I had them ever since I was fifteen."

"Wow. Joe says that you have an extensive family." I said.

"Oh yes. Between family and family friends that are close enough to be family, we are close to the hundred now. I mean if I brought them all then it would probably fill up most of this chapel."

"Wow. Your family puts my Mexican family to shame." I replied.

She chuckled and agreed before Joe insisted on them finding a good seat before more people showed up.

"Joe, can I talk to you?" I asked.

"Uh...sure." He said.

"Chika, wait here." I told Sarah who nodded.

Joe gestured for his wife to sit near the front with their kids. We both walked to a side and I leaned on the wall. "What's up?"

"A few days ago, you said something when we were talking about your wife's family. You said 'so many animal people', do you remember?" I said.

He turned pale for a few seconds then looked at me. "Did I really say that? It must have slipped."

"What did you mean by that?" I asked.

"Just forget that I said it. It's nothing important."

"No, tell me. It's important."

He sighed and burried his face into his hands.

"If I tell you." He began. "You have to promise to not tell anyone."

"You got it."

"Seriously, this could be bad if it gets out."

"Promise, dude."

"Okay...have you ever seen Cats?"

"What?"

"Cats. That play where people dress up like cats and dick around while pretending to be part cat."

"Oh. Never seen it myself but I've heard of it.

"Well what if they weren't pretending? What if they actually were cat people with cat traits."

I nodded as I pretended to not know anything about what he was talking about.

"Her family." He continued. "Well a good part of it, are half animal."

"Do you mean like cats?" I asked and raised an eye brow.

"Not all of them. Just some. Some are dogs or wolves. Her brothers and sister and some of her cousins are white tigers."

"She's a white tiger?" I asked, honestly surprised.

"Shhh, yes." He hissed. "She is half white tiger and can change to have white tiger ears and a white tiger tail and even white tiger fur... I knew she was half white tiger for years but she never really showed me. Almost as if she thought I wouldn't approve."

"Why's that?"

"People have mixed opinions about Darkstalkers. My mother grew up with them so she had no real opinion, other than they were people too. Want to know when was the first real time that she showed me her half human and half white tiger form?"

"Sure"

"When she was my fiancée, she would always hide it from me. But I caught glimpses of her sometimes when she thought I was asleep or passing through the hall when the bedroom door slightly open or something. She did once, but she was adamant about it, during this trip we took to this one Darkstalker town with her family, and even then she only really did it because her father would bug her if she didn't. She never believed me when I said that I didn't mind what she was but it wasn't until we were I our honeymoon that she transformed around me. She had been acting a little weird when we got back to the hotel the first night of the honeymoon, and wouldn't talk to me about it."

"Maybe it was her first time and she was nervous." I suggested.

"No we had sex before, a few times, but she seemed distant…lost in her thoughts. She asked me to go for a walk and leave her in the apartment alone for a bit so I did. I walked the rooms, talked to some of the other guests…small talk mostly, but it was an hour and a half before I made my way back to the bedroom. I walked into the dark room and tried turning the light on when she told me to stop. I did and she began to ask me if I really wanted to be married to something that is half animal. She asked me to not move and just stay where I was, so I did…and told her that it didn't change anything and that I still felt the same towards her, hat I wanted her and that I wanted children with her and that I wanted to grow old and die with her. She gasped in surprise. I could have heard her but not see her, in the dark room, but all of a sudden I saw a pair of silver eyes glow where the apartment's couch was. They weren't human eyes, no; they were animal eyes, something that belonged on something from the wild. I stood still so she wouldn't think that I was scared of her. She walked, on all fours, towards me and stood up and began to kiss me and I kissed her. She turned on the light and she stood there and held herself up against me wearing her white tiger ears, white tiger tail, a collar and a leash…and nothing more."

"Kinky" I said.

"Yeah. She handed me the end of the leash and said 'if you really want me, then I'm yours'. So I took the end of the leash and lead her into the bedroom and got to making Hannah. The end"

"Wow. Cool, so you did know that people like that existed?"

"Yeah, well my mother told us about these creatures called Darkstalkers growing up. When my sister and I were kids she would tell us some stories about these animal people. We thought it was a fairy tale or something from some novel or something but as we grew older, she told us about certain people who she knew that had animal parts and could see things other people can't and could do things with shadows" He said and looked over at his wife. "But I never thought I'd see one, let alone marry one and have children with her."

"So there are more cat people...wait, people with powers?" I thought out loud.

"And white tigers and dogs and wolves... Wait 'more cat people'? What?"

I explained Sarah's true form to him in various details. I left out the entire thing where a man named Bohemi was looking for cat people to breed them together.

"Whoah...and here I thought that Desirée's family were the only ones with freaks." He said.

"Please don't call them freaks, she is my daughter." I replied.

"Sorry... Wait so does that mean that Sarah is adopted?" He asked.

"Yeah. That's exactly right."

"Oh...does she know?"

"Why is that the fist thing that people ask when they find out?"

"I'm sorry, but what else can I say? Listen, don't tell Desirée that I told you. She'll have my balls if you do." He said then patted me on the back then walked off.

More people came and I greeted them all until my brother, mother, Antonio and Mauricio showed up. My brother and mother automatically started adjusting my tux, which I was silently thankful for as I didn't notice that my pant leg was inside of my sock.

"Sarah, why don't you go play with Peter and Hannah? They're nice kids." I said.

Sarah nodded and ran off. She had become a lot more social in the last few months and would want to play with other kids.

"You know, you'll be keeping her away from boys when she's older." Roberto said.

"Nah, I'll be a cool dad. The kind of dad that gives my sons advice about girls then be their wingman and stuff." I replied.

"With your sons." Mauricio added. "What about with Sarah or any other daughter you have."

"Oh some heads will roll. Imma buy me a machete and keep it ready." I replied.

"Ni que fuéramos Salvadoreños." My mother complained and shifted my pants to the side."

Mr. Belmont started charging people one dollar for admittance when they had forgotten their invitation or didn't have enough.

So far he had 23 dollars.

We had invited several people over and they normally brought someone else. A lot of the people at work were here as well as some daycare people and even Sarah's friend who played with Sarah, Peter, Hannah and some other kids that arrived.

My mother and brother took me to a room to continue adjusting my tux as I saw Elizabeth arrive in her beautiful wedding dress. We actually still owe two payments on it but I think it was worth it. I really find it weird how women want to own their wedding dress especially as I don't mind renting a tux.

Once my tux was "ready", according to my brother and mother, I walked out to talk to a few more people. Elizabeth hadn't left her room as her mother and one of Elizabeth's friends were in there helping her out.

I continued shaking some hands and having light conversations with random people when a woman in a red dress and high heels walked up to me and hugged me.

"Oh, hi." I said and tried to remember what her name was. There was something familiar about her but I couldn't tell what.

"Carlos, it's good to see you. Come, I have someone who wants to say hello." She said and grabbed my hand and walked towards the back of the chapel and out the doors where Mr. Belmont raised an eye row at me as I walked passed with another woman.

"Umm." I began but she never stopped walking until she reached the back of the parking lot until she turned around and smiled at me. "I'm sorry. But who are you?"

"You don't even remember me?" She said and put a hand on her hip and shifted slightly.

A man walked out from behind a car and flicked a cigarette away. He adjusted his dress shirt then his cuffs and smiled a me. It took me a second but I smiled when I saw him.

"Good morning, Carlos. Long time no see." He said.

I walked up and shook his hand.

"Kioril, where have you been? I heard you got a promotion or something." I replied.

"Yeah, we'll not really. I miss the people I used to take care of." He replied.

"Mauricio calls them animals." I replied.

"Yeah, we'll that's what they are, but that's not what I see them as." He said. "I see that you didn't recognize Rána here."

I turned and looked at the woman who shoved me slightly and smiled.

"Jerk." She said. "And after I paid a dollar to see you."

I laughed. "Well last time I saw you, you were covered in a robe and looked a lot more like a lizard."

"Yeah, we'll this is my human form." She said and twirled slightly. "What do you think?"

"Rána, he's getting married. He can't be answering those kind of questions to any other woman."

"Just because you've ordered, doesn't mean that you can't look at the menu...and I am most definitely on the menu." She said and leaned on a car.

"Are you guys here for the wedding?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Of course. We didn't want to miss it. How is baby Sarah doing?" Kioril asked.

"Good. She's almost three now. Still doesn't know she's..."

"Adopted?" Rána suggested.

"Yeah."

"You're going to have to tell we sometime, Carlos." Kioril said. "Better now that she's young than when she's older."

"Yeah. I think we'll tell her after the honeymoon." I said.

"Where are you going?" Rána asked.

"We were going to go to this nice hotel by the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It is really nice there and Elizabeth always did want to go." I replied.

"You do know that she's a Ginger, right?" Rána asked.

"Really? I have not noticed." I replied sarcastically.

"I mean that gingers have really pale skin and burn easily and Arizona is like a million degrees at all times." Rána said.

"Really? I didn't know that... About the gingers not about Arizona: it's a desert." I replied.

"Well since you have kept your word about keeping Sarah safe...how about we give you these." Kioril said and handed me an envelope.

"What's in it?" I asked but didn't receive an answer until I opened it and pulled out two tickets for a cruise to Hawaii for a today (Saturday) until Friday the 13th.

"Oh man, guys I can't accept this." I said and started to hand the tickets back.

"Hey, it's the least we could do. Plus what would I do with them? Take Rána?" Kioril said.

"Yeah, wait what? What's wrong with going with me?" Rána asked.

"Are you sure? I don't mean to cause you guys trouble." I said.

"Take them. It's the least we could do. Look at her..." Kioril said and looked through a window to look at Sarah who was playing with the other children. "You even thought her how to appear human."

"Mauricio helped with that." I replied and smiled towards Sarah.

"I've got to make sure to thank him." Kioril said.

"Can I ask you something?" I said.

"Sure."

"Don't take this the wrong way but...why are you so fascinated with Sarah? I mean, yeah she might be one of the last existing cat people but what makes her so special to you?"

Kioril sighed and turned to me.

"Her parents died shortly after she and her brother were born. Sarah was badly under nourished and actually died twice in in the week after she was born. I helped bring her back to life, both times and sat next to the incubator as she was in critical condition for about a month until we were able to conclude that she would live. Her brother was perfectly healthy, except that he barely cried. I spent the next year or so bottle feeding her and changing her and making sure she was healthy. I was going to try and raise her as my own until I heard what our leader, Bohemi, intended on doing with her after she came of age. I was appalled and argued the decision but was shouted down. So I did the one thing I could do: have her leave...save her from that fate. She was no animal, not to me at least, so why shouldn't she be able to grow up like a regular girl? Why couldn't she be the one that chooses what she will because. Who she will be... If she'll be a lawyer or doctor or someone of importance... Why should she be doomed to be little more than a simple minded animal who's only purpose would be to breed and grow old and die?"

"You have a point. I couldn't imagine her being raised for that." I said. "But I will say that we love Sarah, Elizabeth and I. We will make sure that nothing ever happens to her."

"I know you do and I know you will. Which is why I'm entrusting you with her. Now please accept those and go inside... I think that they're looking for you."

I looked inside and saw my brother and mother talking to people and asking if they have seen me.

"Thanks guys." I said and turned around to walk past Mr. Belmont and into the chapel.

The rest of the wedding went by smoothly. I was taken into a room where I was given another round of suggestions and adjusting. But it was finally time to begin.

It was a nice and traditional ceremony, where I stood at the altar as "Here Comes the Bride" played. My brother stood next to me and so did Antonio. Everyone stood up as Sarah walked by with her basket and tossed flowers left and right until she ran out of flowers and tossed the basket which hit Mauricio in the head. Everyone laughed and Sarah ran up to the altar to stand there. One of Roberto's sons carried the ring on a glorified pillow. He stared at the ring as he made his way down the aisle until stood next to his father. Finally we all turned to look at Elizabeth who beamed brightly and looked a lot like she did last night, after she got home. Her hair curled slightly now and her dress was perfectly fitted to show her figure. I looks her up and down and it was the first time that I've seen her rack look that good.

She made her way to the altar next to me and smiled a me so I did the same. I would have kissed her bit I was t instructed to yet so we both held back.

After some hushing down and throat clearing, Pastor David began his ordeal where he read off the bible and talked about marriage and all that. Elizabeth and I had our backs to everyone as we looked at Pastor David, while he went on and on and on. It took at least on your before the I Do's began.

"Do you, Elizabeth Belmont, take Carlos Manuel Cera,  
to be your lawfully wedded husband, secure in the knowledge that he will be your constant friend? Your faithful partner in life, and your one true love. On this special and holy day, do you affirm in the presence of God and all those in attendance of your sacred promise to stay by his side as his faithful wife in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad? Do you promise to love him without reservation, comfort him in times of distress, encourage him to achieve higher goals, laugh with him and cry with him, grow with him in mind and spirit, always be open and honest with him, and cherish him for as long as we both shall live?"

"I do." Elizabeth choked out.

"Oh thank God." I said and everyone burst out laughing.

"And do you, Carlos Manuel Cera, take Elizabeth Belmont,  
to be your lawfully wedded wife, secure in the knowledge that she will be your constant friend? Your faithful partner in life, and your one true love. On this special and holy day, do you affirm in the presence of God and all those in attendance of your sacred promise to stay by her side as her faithful husband in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad? Do you promise to love her without reservation, comfort her in times of distress, encourage her to achieve higher goals, laugh with her and cry with her, grow with her in mind and spirit, always be open and honest with her, and cherish her for as long as we both shall live?"

I noticed Elizabeth gave me her. "Don't make a joke face" one millionth of a second before I said. "Sure, why not."

The audience laughed again and I had to hush them up but it was still barely audible when I said. "I do."

"By the power invested in me by the state, and God, and all these people. I know pronounce you Mexican husband and ginger wife. You might now do that one thing that is normally said after something that resembles what I just said." Pastor David said and Elizabeth pulled me to her and I kissed her deeply.

We both closed out eyes as we stood there in front of everyone who awe'd and applauded until we let go. We both chuckled at each other and kissed again before turning around.

Elizabeth laughed out and pointed at Sarah who stood on the side with her hands over cousin's eyes while he stood there with his hands over Sarah's eyes.

I walked over and picked Sarah up and sat her on my shoulder and moved back to Elizabeth who stood on her tip toes as I ducked down to kiss Sarah in the forehead.

"Congratulations." Pastor David said as he gathered his stuff.

"Thank you." I said and shook his hand.

Elizabeth always wanted to do that thing where we run out and people throw rice at us and we drive off into the sunset on a white car with cans hanging off the bumper and a sign saying "Just Married" in the back so that's what we did.

-0-

It wasn't until later in the day that I told Elizabeth about the tickets that Kioril gave me.

"But you're aqua phobic." Elizabeth asked me over the music and people talking on our backyard. We headed home where a party was organized for us. Cake and soda and beer and carne asada were handed out by the plate.

"We'll be above water plus if something happens I would just use you as a flotation device. Mrs. Best swimmer in the tenth grade."

"Hey, so I'm just a life saver now." She asked.

"Well in all honesty, you have saved my life once. By agreeing to be with me." I replied and kissed her.

"Smooth, husband, smooth." She said and kissed me back. "when do we leave?"

"Tonight. So Roberto will have to take Sarah starting tonight."

"Cool. I can't believe that I'm actually your wife!" She squealed and kissed me.


	7. Chapter 7: The Adopted Cat-Teen

_Chapter 7_: **The Adopted Cat-Teen**

(Sarah)

"Do you ever wonder...like where time goes? Like we grow up so fast, Dianah. I remember being a kid and just doing kid stuff, toys, cartoons, etc. now I've got so much to worry about: class, homework, guys...time of the month- but anyway. Do you remember when the most complex thing we had to worry about was who was going to be the wife and who was going to be the husband when we played house?"

"I only got to play wife twice. I think you cheated during the rock, paper, scissors."

"How does anyone cheat at rock, paper, scissors?"

"I don't know, how did you?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who could see things."

"No, you're the one with the cute cat ears and tail."

"Meow, Dianah, me-ow."

"Whatever. I noticed that you didn't add the phrase 'weight gain' in your list of worries."

I put the rest of the muffin, I had been picking at, in my mouth before answering. "That's because I don't gain weight. Last week, when we went to that buffet, I pugged out and weighed myself the next day and actually weighed half a pound less than I did."

"Lucky, if I even look at a chocolaté gâteau, I end up gaining five pounds...and it all ends up building up in my ass too. I thought that your boobs grew first?"

"Don't ask me."

"Some help you are."

"Google it, girly."

"Speaking of 'girly'... Did Matt ask you out?"

"No, was he going to?"

"No, nothing... I mean: I don't know."

"Oh my God! When is he going to do it?"

Dianah groaned and squealed before blurting out. "Today or tomorrow, oop."

"Get out!"

"Sarah! Get off the phone, I've got to call your aunt!" My mother yelled from downstairs.

"Okay!" I yelled and covered the phone's receiver. "Look, dude: I've got to go. Are we still going to Vanilla tomorrow?"

"Sure. Wait..." She said and paused for a few seconds.

"What?"

"I see mustard...and ketchup..."

"Hotdogs?" I asked.

"No... I'm sure it's nothing. Anyway, goodnight."

"Goodnight." I replied and hung the phone up. "Okay, mom!"

"Thanks, sweetie!" She yelled back.

I sighed and turned my laptop on and sat there as it booted up.

"Sarah, can I ask you something?" A boy's voice came from my right side.

I turned and saw my 14 year old brother, Leo standing by the door and looking at me with his large dark blue eyes.

"Leo, come in. What's up?" I said and rolled over on my chair and finished opening the slightly ajar door.

"Well..." He began while walking into my room, in a voice that lightened and deepened in pitch. "Dad said that I'm at the point in time where girls will be more appealing to me."

"Yup, you've finally hit the big 1-4." I replied and opened my Internet browser and clicked on the Facebook icon on the start page.

"But there's this girl, you see." He continued.

"There always is. Listen... You're at the point in your life where your body changes, we all go through it. Mom went through it. Dad went through it. I went through it. Lisa and Lana will go through it. It's normal. I know you're confused, but trust me: it gets easier." I said and patted his copper ginger hair.

"I won't grow boobs will I?" He asked, honestly concerned.

"Sure hope not. I'd have a lot of questions if you do."

He laughed then stared at me. "Pedro, says that girls have cooties and boys could...die if we get it. But Gene says that there's a way to protect boys from getting it. Is that true?"

"Sure is!" I said and turned around to get a pen. "Hold still." I pulled him closer to me and drew a bolded C on his forehead then drew a circle with a line going across it. "Done! Now don't wash that off until tomorrow night and you will be permanently immune to all forms of cooties."

"Really?"

"Yup. Don't tell anyone if they ask though. I'm not supposed to tell you."

He made a zipper motion over his mouth then thanked me then walked out.

"I'm a good older sister." I said.

Then spent the next hour replying to messages and checking my games on Facebook before I got started on my AP homework.

I had to write a five page autobiography and had three weeks to do it. Better late than never, I guess. I tapped on the keys and typed random characters then stopped and deleted them all, one at a time.

My name is Sarah Cera. I am 17 years old, 18 on March 30th. My father's name is Carlos Manuel Cera and he's a senior draftsman for Unified Homes. He is 42 years old but still acts like a teenager whenever he wants. My mother's name is-

I heard yelling coming from the hallway so I opened the door and was greeted with a face full of ketchup. I gasped and involuntary hissed.

My father was covered in mustard as he held one of my mom's pan lids in one hand like a shield and a red bottle of store brand ketchup. He laughed as be squirted some ketchup passed me as some mustard was shot out of a toy mustard gun that each of my younger sisters had. They were both covered in mustard and ketchup and giggled as they did their best to hide behind each other and shoot my father with mustard.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I wiped some ketchup from the top of my chest and shirt.

"He started it." My twin sisters said, in unison, at the same time as my father said "they started it." A round of "did not" and "did too" began.

"You guys are crazy." I said and walked back into my room. "Damn in, Dianah." I muttered and wiped some ketchup off me.

"Hey Sarah, can I talk to you for a second? Shh, shh." My father said from the other side of the door.

"No! Go away!" I laughed out. I knew exactly what he was planning, he had done it before.

"No really. It's about the C you drew on Leo's forehead." He replied.

"It's to protect him from cooties." I said.

"Can you stop feeding him that nonsense?" He replied in his fatherly voice.

I sighed and opened the door to talk to him.

"Chingensela!" My father let out and I gasped as I was covered, from head to toe, with mustard and ketchup.

"Stop! Stop!" I let out and tried protecting myself with my hands.

"What?" One of the twins asked.

"Sepa." My father replied.

"That's it." I said and let my cat ears and tail extrude from my body. I extended my hands which turned into medium sized white paws as my nails sharpened to become claws.

"¡La gata salió! Run!" My father yelled and picked my sisters up and ran into their room.

I stood by my door as I head them laughing. I admired the light blue walls with lashes of randomly splashed ketchup and mustard.

"Mom is going to freak." I said and blinked a few times as my cat parts disappeared then walked back into my room to finish my report after a quick shower.

I pulled out a muscle shirt and some shorts then undressed in my room and walked down the hall and into the regular bathroom then locked the door when I got in. I began to remove my bra when I heard my mother shriek as she walked up the stairs.

"HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST! CARLOS! LISA! LANA! GET OUT HERE!"

-0-

I woke up the next morning and stretched as my Wolf and Spice alarm clock went off. I pressed Holo's head and the alarm stopped abruptly. I blinked heavily a few times then closed my eyes and extended my hand and counted down in my head.

"4:59, 4:58, 4:57..."

I snapped awake 15 minutes later and flew out of bed then changed to the underwear and clothes I laid out the night before. I spent five minutes arranging my hair and applying eye liner before I shook my head wildly and was satisfied with how my hair ended up.

I walked out of my room and saw Lisa and Lana frowning as they both cleaned the walls and floor.

"Morning." I said in my best bubbly tone.

"Morning." They groaned as they wiped with the rags.

I ran down the stairs as my father headed out the door. "Have fun at work, dad!" I said and hugged him.

"You too, Racoon-Chika." He said and kissed my forehead before walking out. He always made that joke whenever I had eye liner. He stopped yelling at me to take it off and just made jokes.

"Hungry, Sarah?" My mother asked as she put a plate of Cocoa something in front of my brother who dug right in.

My mother was a 5'4" ginger. Slender body and all around small woman but you didn't want her yelling at you. Her long wavy ginger hair was wrapped into a ponytail.

"Sure." I said and pulled a seat out and sat down.

"Okay. Your roots are starting to grow out, by the way." She replied.

I smacked my lips and pulled out the small make-up mirror from my pocket and examined my hair. "At least it doesn't look bad." I said.

I constantly dyed my hair red, like my mother and sisters who were all long haired gingers. My brother had more of a copper shade and slightly darker skin, not as dark as my father's caramel complexion, but not as pale as my mother's.

I was neither a ginger, like my mother, or a Mexican, like my father (at least when it came to physical traits). I am 50% Mexican and 50% Caucasian, according to my parent's heritage. Although if you wanted to be technical: there's some Scottish and British on my mother's side and some German in my mother's mother's side. There was Mexican, on my father's side, and Mexican on his father's and mother's side. Funny thing is that my hair is brown and I have fair skin so all their genes must have skipped me completely. Which is fine for me as I'm an English and Spanish speaking white girl. You would not believe the amount of times I've caught girls talking smack in Spanish because they think I don't understand.

"Lisa, Lana, come eat!" My mother let out and placed a bowl of cereal in front of me too.

I dug in as my sisters griped about cleaning. My sisters were both six. They were, by far, the youngest of the four of us. Leo is 14, three years and two months younger than me.

-0-

The bell rang for lunch and I walked out of the classroom and into the corridor where it wasn't as packed as people would think. The second floor of the O building, which is where I am, is reserved for the AP classes so only those students attending classes were ever here. The bottom floor was used for the offices and two English classes so it wasn't ever full either.

I walked through the end door and down the exterior stairs that led down into the grounds and passed where three girls were standing around and hushed each other as I passed.

One girl was Stephanie Andres: a dark haired girl who stood about two inches taller than me. We never really got along so we just kept to ourselves. I didn't know who the other two were but all three of them are always together.

I passed by without saying anything.

"Puta." Stephanie said.

I stopped and tired around to look at her.

"What?" I asked her. Not as a question but daring her to say it again.

"You heard me, puta. You think you're all smart, going to them smart girl classes and shit." She continued and walked towards me.

"I think you need to chill out, Stephanie. What's your problem?" I replied.

"You're my problem, pendeja. How about you walk away, little adopted girl." She replied.

The other girls made daring noises and mocked me.

"Fuck you, Stephanie. I'm-" I began but stopped when she slapped me.

I stepped back and held my cheek then walked forward. She dared me to slap her back but I just pulled my hand back and punched her in the nose as hard as I could.

She cried out and fell to the floor as she held herself and looked at me.

I never believed in the whole slapping and hair pulling and tearing clothing off style of fighting. I've never been in a cat fight, no pun intended. I got beat up when I was a kid a few times so I asked my father to teach me his "putasos" style of fighting.

One of the other girls grabbed my arms behind me and I jerked my head back and hit her. She let me go as the other girl walked towards me and I elbowed her across the face. Stephanie walked over and scratched me in the arm with her nails.

"You want to play like that?" I asked and let my fingernails shift into claws.

"Stephanie, Sarah. What's going on?" A voice asked from behind me.

Stephanie immediately straightened up and looked passed me.

"Matt, hi." Stephanie said and smiled gingerly as she forgot all about me.

"Sarah, are you okay? Let's go." He said and started pulling me by the arm.

"Matt, don't touch that adopted piece of shit." Stephanie shrieked.

"Just ignore her, Sarah." Matt said as we walked away.

"I saw the file on the office, Matt. Her real name isn't Sarah!" Stephanie let out.

I broke out of Matt's hold and used my cat's speed to run up to her and punched her in the face. She hit the floor and held herself and crawled backwards.

I tried yelling at her but I just whimpered slightly and just turned around and walked passed Matt who glared at Stephanie.

I saw Dianah standing at the end of the building as she had been waiting for me but walked over to see what was going on.

"Sarah, are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." I said and sniffed loudly as I kept walking.

Matt and Dianah had to rush to catch up with me.

"Sarah." Matt said. "Can you wait for a second?"

"You're cousin is a bitch, Matt. I'm sorry to say that, but she is." I said.

"I know, Sarah. I'm sorry. She was waiting for me to take her to lunch and I got caught up talking to my friend. I'm sorry. It's my fault." Matt said.

"It's not your fault..." I said and breathe deeply. "I'm sorry that I decked your cousin. She has a way of getting underneath my skin."

"Sarah. She deserved it, trust me. I've felt like doing it sometimes. It's cool if you're adopted, I don't think any different of you." Matt said.

I stared at him then turned and walked away.

"What?" He asked. "What did I say?"

"She's not adopted." Dianah said and began running towards me.

"Shit..." I heard Matt say but didn't come after me, which I was grateful for.

"Sarah, wait up." Dianah said as she caught up and held my hand.

"I'm not adopted." I said and sniffed lightly.

"I know." She said and turned me around then hugged me. "Stephanie is just a bitch; don't pay any attention to her."

"She said that she saw a document saying I was." I insisted.

"She says a lot of things. Remember when she said that she was going to steal your dad's car?" She said.

"Yeah."

"Did she do it?"

"No."

"See. She's just jealous of your relationship with her cousin." Dianah said and started walking.

I sniffed and nodded.

"Don't cry. You'll mess your mascara if you cry." she said.

I chuckled lightly.

"Listen. I don't care if you are or aren't. You're still my best friend and that's all that matters. Your parents would have told you if you were and it's not like you would have forgotten, you remember you parents wedding and that was when you were what? Six? Seven?"

"Two."

"See, wait you can remember from when you were two?" She asked.

I laughed and shoved her but she never let go of my hand, which I was grateful for.

"And why the hell did they call you Sarah? I mean it's a pretty name, but Sarah Cera? I don't think that they thought that trough." She said as we walked.

I simply chuckled as we showed our passes to the security officer who let us out. I was an AP student so they let me out for lunch and Dianah had one because her mother, my mother, and the principle all had the same yoga class and were all friends.

I ordered a double cheese and bacon burger with large fries and some tamarindo while Dianah ordered a regular burger with a medium cherry coke.

"You always order the greasiest and fattening thing but you stay skinny as a twig." Dianah said when we sat down in a table that just got empty.

"You know why that is." I said and ate a fry.

"Man I wish I was like you. Imma have to jog for an hour to level this." She said and bit into the burger. "You have a stalker." She added with a mouth full of food.

I turned around and saw Matt standing by the ordering window and looking around.

"What's he doing here?" I asked when I turned around.

"Who knows. Matt!" She let out over the all the other conversations.

Matt turned in our direction and walked over.

"Sarah. Listen, I'm sorry that I was being a jerk earlier." He began.

"You weren't being a jerk." I replied.

"No I was. Here." He said and dropped a file on the table. It was a yellow file with at least one hundred pages inside. The name on the tab read "Cera, Sarah" and my birth date.

I looked at Matt.

"I know you, Sarah. You're going to let what Stephanie said bug you until you find out. Here's your file from the school. I haven't looked at it, so don't worry."

"Where did you get this?" I asked and placed my hand over it.

"Took it from the files. I'll put it back later or something. Just give it back before tomorrow." He said and walked out.

"He likes you." Dianah said.

"Hmm." I said. "How did he get here anyway? He doesn't have a pass."

"Girls use passes, guys jump the fence." She said.

We finished our meal with ten minutes to spare so we decided to sit under the tree outside of the main building and look at the file. I snacked on a second order of fries as I opened the file. It had a lot of records of clubs and things I participated in.

"Nerd!" Dianah let out. "You were in the chess club?"

"For a month. It was during my freshman year and I needed school friends." I said.

"We're the same age, and yet you're a senior. How dare you skip a grade without me?"

"Hey, we've bathed together, at least let me have that." I replied.

"Oh yeah..."

The file was out of order: it should have had the student's information up front and all other info behind it but the record was somewhere in the middle. We looked through old pictures and information of events that I helped with. It's not that I had school spirit it's just that AP students were expected to participate in stuff.

The bell rang and we both stood up and headed back inside. It was fifth period and the last class for today, so we both headed to the library.

Students needed some sort of service work to graduate so Dianah and I both volunteered in the library this semester.

We both sat up front and looked through the file and whispered about what we found in the file. I put it away as a class came to check out books and do research. Some had to sign up for cards, which meant that their student ID needed to be registered. One girl owed over 23 dollars in late fees so I deleted them for her and almost wish I haven't because she thanked me at least 10 times and even promised to do my homework for the rest of the semester. I told her that it was cool and to not let it happen again.

The class sat down in the different tables: some read while others talked quietly, so Dianah and I continued looking at the file.

We flipped the pages and finally came to the file with my student info and read it in silence.

Name: Sarah Cera  
Sex: F  
Height: 5'6"  
Birthdate: March 30th  
Status: Senior (AP)  
Expected graduation date: (the date was crossed out as I had skipped a grade)  
Parents/guardians: Carlos Manuel Cera and Elizabeth Cera (Belmont)  
Siblings: 1 brother(s) and 2 sister(s).  
Status: US citizen  
Student ID number 88022616

Special classes/extracurricular activities:  
Chess club  
Band  
AP classes  
School fair

"Band?" Dianah asked.

"Hey, dad bought me a flute and I wanted to see if I could play it better." I said.

"Well that settles it. She was lying."

"Yup." I said and quickly flipped through the rest of the pages and got to the back of the file with nothing extra.

"Why does the back feel so bulky?" Dianah asked.

"Don't know." I said and pulled the back of the file slightly and it folded out as the fake end opened. A brown file was there. It had light white stripes (that looked like it was copied while hair was over it).

We pulled it out and the title read: Cera, Sarah. Level B CLASSIFIED.

I looked at Dianah who mouthed the words.

"What's Level B classified?" I asked.

My mom says that it's a secret file that people...like us...have. Level B is supposed to be way up there and people could get fired just for looking at it.

"Wow." I replied and opened it.

"I don't think that we should be opening it." Dianah said. "We could get in trouble."

"Nobody is going to know, plus it's my file." I said.

She smiled gingerly and nodded.

I opened the file which had three pages; the first one was just an empty page with a QR barcode and the other two were document stating the same thing that Dianah had just told me.

"What's that?" Dianah asked me.

"It's a QR code. You scan it with a special reader to see the information." I replied and pulled my phone out.

I downloaded the QR reader, and knew that mom was going to kill me because I didn't have an Internet plan, but I just had to see what it said.

It took me about five minutes to scan the document with my phone and laughed out when it finally read. The web browser opened and it took me to a blank page with a space to type something.

I shrugged and typed "Sarah Cera" and hit the "go" button. It loaded for a second then said "wrong password". I tied random words, including the word password, and nothing.

"Try password." Dianah said.

"I did." I replied and put Belmont, my mother's maiden name, and still nothing.

"Excuse me, can I check these out?" The girl who owed 23 dollars asked as she placed four books on the counter.

"Sure." Dianah said and took the books. She scanned them one at a time. "So what kind of books are these? Fiction?"

"No, they're more like research. This man talks about people with powers to control elements and other things." She said, excitedly.

I stared at the thinnest of books. It was a blue book with the title in golden letters: Animal People... Myth or Reality. I cocked an eyebrow and opened the first page. It had a 1970's picture of a man in a tux.

"Walter Z. Bohemi" was written underneath the picture. A short bio was written underneath but Dianah took the book from me to scan it.

I typed the name into my phone and it was still incorrect. I tried the first and last name individually and still nothing.

"Z?" Dianah asked. "What guy name starts with Z?"

The girl shrugged. "Zed maybe." She suggested and took the books.

"Make sure to bring them back on time." Dianah said while I typed Zed into the space.

The screens froze for a second before a cartoon cat-girl smiled at me and my screen went dark. A separate search bar came on the screen and I touched the search button.

I typed Cera, Sarah in the search and it populated the screen with people whose name included the words Sarah and/or Cera.

I sighed as Dianah looked over my shoulder. "Try putting your name in quotation marks so it only searches for that.

I did and it took about a minute before it show a single result.

I clicked on my name and waited for my cell phone to load and thought about the fortune that the data will cost at the end of the month.

The page finally loaded and the first thing I saw a picture of me and Dianah walking to lunch a month or so ago.

"That is creepy... God my hair looks terrible!" Dianah said.

I chuckled and scrolled down but the goosebumps I felt never went away. Especially when I began reading the profile.

Name: Gale Wilmingson  
Adoptive or given name (if applicable): Sarah Cera  
Date of birth: March 30th.  
Parents: Andrew and Felicity Wilmingson  
Adoptive or given parents (if applicable): Carlos and Elizabeth Cera.

I dropped my phone onto the counter and just sat there, staring at nothing while my mind raced.

I heard Dianah calling out to me, but it sounded distant. She finally snapped be back to normal.

"Are you okay? What happened?" She asked me.

"Stephanie was right..." I said as her face turned white. "I am adopted."

She picked my phone up and read the same thing I just read.

"This must be a mistake... Maybe it's another Sarah Cera..." Dianah suggested.

"With the same Parents and birthdate?" I asked.

"Um... Maybe it's a different town or something. I mean how rare could it be for someone to have the same last name." She suggested.

"The profile has a picture of us, Dianah." I said.

She began to say something then quieted down, I really wish she hasn't.

I took my phone back and continued reading.

"Gale Wilmingson, Sarah Cera, was born into a really interesting line. Her mother and father were the pets of a Green Land couple, by the name of Wilmingson (where Gale's last name originated from). Not much is known of the couple or how Andrew and Felicity ended up in their care but the young cat couple were confiscated from the Wilmingson's possession after Andrew attacked a security officer in an airport while the older couple was boarding a plane to Europe. The cat couple (Andrew and Felicity) were brought to a classified facility, sister company was Huyton Industries (see Huyton Industries for history), where they resided for about two months when the mother gave birth to her litter. Gale is one half of two children of that litter, with Kaleb being the other half, and were both removed from their mother after two days. Kaleb was the only one allowed to see their parents three times a day (during feeding times) while Gale was in intensive care for unknown reasons.

Andrew and Felicity attacked a new team of caretakers and escaped two weeks later. It is assumed that they wanted to recover their children but ended up running into the streets where they died of an unknown disease. Felicity passed away first and Andrew lived for a day and a half later, after we found him by his partner's side. Treatment was given to him but he died anyway. Both were cremated and the ashes were kept by Kyle Deliriotti (see Kyle Deliriotti for full bio).

Gale was finally deemed clear of any danger, a month later, and was cared by Kyle Deliriotti (preferred alias Kioril, reason unknown), and by Janet Lovegood (quickly replaced by Xiochitl J. Rána, after she retired due to stress), from there on out. Kioril took care of both Gale and Kaleb for a year and a half when both suddenly went missing. It is speculated, but not confirmed, that Kilril might have had something to do with both of the children's disappearance. All investigations regarding Gale's and Kaleb's disappearance were dropped in the summer of 2016.

Kaleb was returned to the facility three months later after he appeared in the hands of The Sisters of St. Jude's orphanage, while Gale's whereabouts were unknown until a few weeks ago where it is believed that she was located. Figure A. shows who we believe to be Gale Wilmington walking by a high school with another girl (see Dianah Willis for full bio). No attempts to recapture Gale have been made as she is almost an adult but if Preparation ElopeV3 does not go as planned then that might change.

-END-

I stared at the text on the screen for a few seconds before Dianah put her arms around me.

"Sarah. I'm so sorry." She said.

"Gale... My name is... Gale... Gale... Wilmingson..." I muttered.

"Sarah, listen to me." She began. "You are Sarah Cera, okay. Say you are adopted, who cares, and if you were broken out of whatever facility you were in then who cares."

"I care, Dianah. I care." I replied. "I need a moment."

I walked out and headed into the girl's bathroom and made sure that nobody was there. I sat on the stool and lifted my feet until I sat there with my knees touching my chin. I stared at the stool door and thought about what I read and began to sob before I started to fully cry.

I read the text again and again and thought about my parents, my real parents. I never met them and I never will. Why would mom and dad hide this from me? I have met a few students that were adopted and they knew. Their parents had told them when there were younger.

What would I say to my adoptive parents? Should I even say anything? How should I react around them if I do?

I sniffed loudly and just sat there before crying again.

"Sarah?" Dianah asked as she slowly opened the girl's bathroom door.

"Gale... My name is... Gale." I let out and cried out loudly.

"Sarah… Sarah listen to me." She said and stood by the stool I was in. "I... I dreamt this. I remember that I was talking to you in here."

"What?" I asked her and sniffed.

"Last week... I fell asleep in math, big surprise I know, but I dreamt that I walked in here and you were crying and I...well I don't remember what I said, but I remember telling you that I will help you if you wanted to find that facility and who you really are."

"Would you do that?" I ask.

"Yes. Yes I would, Sarah. Because you're my best friend and I want you to be happy." She replied.

I lowered my feet and stood up then walked out of the stool and hugged her and cried...and so did she...and I was grateful to have her. The one thing I was still sure of in my life.

We both wiped our tears and walked out and back into the library, about five minutes later where the entire class was lined up and ready to check their books out. Dianah and I chuckled and took our spots behind the desk and helped them out.

-0-

I called my... mom so she wouldn't come pick me up and instead rode with Dianah's mom as she dropped us off at the mall where we shared the world's largest Banana Split.

We talked about stupid stuff but always ended up talking about my situation. We bought some new clothes and some pizza pretzels. I also bought some churros, nachos and a large horchata.

Dianah stared at me open mouth as I wolfed it down.

"Hey don't give me that. I just found out that I'm adopted, remember?" I said.

"When you're like 35 or something, your stomach is just going to burst open because you eat so much. You should eat a salad." She suggested.

"Salad, my butt." I said. "Plus I'm a cat remember? Our digestive systems run on overdrive!"

"Yeah, yeah. You're a feline and I'm able to dream...great trade off." She said.

"My parents were also cats." I said.

"No, you're parents consist of a Mexican man-child and a ginger woman." She replied.

"My real parents." I said.

"Your real parents are the ones who raised you. Plus how would you be if you would have been with your quote unquote real parents?" She asked and took some of my horchata. "You read the file; they were cats...just some elder couple's pets. You would have been their pets too. You would be living your life just like Alex."

"Alex has a great life." I replied.

"Yeah but that's only because mom spoils him. That fur ball eats more than I do." She continued. "All he does is eat, sleep and crap on his stupid litter box, which I end up having to clean up."

I laughed. "Sounds like a great life. I should go live with you guys."

"Sure, come on. We'll get you a mat on the floor and your own extra-large litter box, don't think imma be cleaning that though."

We both laughed loudly and finished the large amount of food in front of me.

It finally came time for me to head home so Mrs. Willis gave me a ride home. I said goodnight to Dianah and her mother and walked to the door and sighed heavily. I reached for the door knob and was surprise when it turned and opened by itself.

"Where have you been missy?" My mother asked as I stood outside. "Your father and I were worried sick about you!"

My father walked by the kitchen eating some ice cream and not looking worried at all.

"Weren't we worried, Carlos?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure, really worried. Don't do it again." He said.

I chuckled and silently thanked dad for the comical relief.

"Carlos, you could be more supportive, you know!" My mother snapped.

"Hey, she called twice, she made it home before curfew, she was with who she said she was, she's not drunk or pregnant. Are you?" He said.

I laughed out and shook my head.

"There you go. I've no real problem with it. I know you were worried, Lizzy, but I'm sure that she'll tell us if she's going somewhere. She has before and I trust her completely. Unlike Lisa and Lana who sprayed ketchup and mustard all over the walls."

"Hey you helped!" Lana replied.

"Ap-ap-ap-ap-ap! Bed time, muchachita.

"But it's Thursday and Mrs. Sanchez isn't going to be there tomorrow so there won't be class." Lana replied.

"That's right... So what are you doing here? Let's continue watching the movie." My dad said and bumped Lana with his hip.

"He has a point...don't tell him I said that." My mother said. "Get in. Just... Make sure to talk to me when you change plans and don't just leave a message, okay." She said.

"You got it...mom." I said and smiled then hugged her.

I walked over where my dad was sitting on the couch with both Lisa and Lana on his lap. He was covering both their eyes as the montage scene from Dawn of the Dead was playing. It was the explicit version so it showed the woman in lingerie having sex with that other guy. It was just there for a second or two but my brother didn't let the two girls watch. He also wouldn't let Leo watch but he only had two hands.

"Wanna watch?" My mom asked as she sat on the couch and folded her legs onto the sofa.

"Sure." I said and sat on the end of the sofa with Leo sitting on the floor in front of me. I wasn't too big on horror movies. I remember my father watching them and I would want to be with him so I would watch them too and would have to sleep with someone that night because I got scared and just a little squeamish. I especially hated when they cut or hurt someone's eyes, so I stuck to action and all that.

I thought about that whole me being adopted thing as we watched the movie and I didn't really mind it. I mean it's obvious, if you think about it; my physical traits are different than my families, I am half cat and they aren't, I can remember things from when I was younger that nobody else can. In fact: my father forgets what he says ten minutes after he says it. It was just how life was, and I didn't mind as they were still my family.

-0-

A week passed and tried to not think about it. But the truth was that it was eating me on the inside. Even now, while standing in the shower and staring down at my feet as water ran through my body. It's easy to think while taking a shower: there isn't anything to distract you or to remind you of anything.

Someone knocked on the door and I jerked my head towards it. Someone said something but I couldn't hear it over the water so I let my cat ears extend.

"What?" I asked.

"Chika! Can we talk to you when you get out?" My father asked. "Just meet us at the kitchen table, it's kind of important."

My heart skipped a beat but I managed an okay.

He walked away and I stood in the shower a little longer before thinking about rinsing the shampoo. I heard my parents talking about something downstairs but it was muffled and I couldn't make it out. I realized that my cat ears were still out and I caressed them with my right hand. I let my tail extend and I waved it around slightly.

It's a weird feeling, moving your tail. It comes natural to me now but it's still an odd feeling, when I think about it. My ears pretty much stay where they are, on top of my head, and move when someone makes a loud noise. But my tail is still odd, kind of like being able to move your hair or fingernail. I felt my tail between my hands and pulled on it lightly and felt it tug on my lower back.

"Pain..." I thought. "That means that it's a part of me." I squeezed my tail slightly then let it go and curled on the edge of the tub with the water falling on me and began to cry.

It was about 10 more minutes before I wiped my tears and walked out, slipped slightly and changed into my pj's and walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs and passed the living room where my brother was playing a video game. I headed into the kitchen, where both my parents were already sitting down and hushed each other as I walked closer.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Were you crying?" My mother asked.

"No." I lied.

"We have to talk." My father said.

"You're not in trouble or anything." My mother added.

"I think I know what it's about." I said and felt my heart sink. "Can I just ask a question?"

"Sure." My father replied.

"Who's Kyle Delitiorri?" I asked.

"Oh, he's the guy who... He's the... I don't know who that is." My father asked.

"You guys might know him as Kioril?" I added.

Both my parents' faces went pale white, more noticeable on my father as his caramel complexion faded fast while my mother just seemed shocked.

"K-Kioril?" My mother began. "Where did you hear that?"

"I read it... On a file at school... My file... My... Darkstalkers file." I replied and felt my heart stop when my father buried his face into his hands.

"I guess it is time to have that talk, Sarah." He said. He hasn't called me by my name in years... Except for when I'm in trouble or he was yelling for me. But he hasn't ever used my name in regular conversation.

"Mom... Dad..." I began. "Am I adopted?" I asked and secretly crossed my fingers. A useless gesture, I know, but I had to do something.

My parents both sighed deeply then looked at me.

"Yes... Sarah yes you are." My father said, his voice breaking slightly.

I heard a gasp and turned to see both Lisa and Lana overhearing by the entrance of the kitchen. Both girls quickly moved back and hid behind the door frame.

"Lisa, Lana, Leo... Get in here... Why did we name all three of with names that start with L, anyway?" My father asked.

"I was not about to call Leo, Sancho." My mother said.

Lisa and Lana popped out of their hiding place and walked into the kitchen. Leo took a little longer as he had to pause his game. We all sat around the table about five minutes later.

"Guys... It's time we told you... Sarah is adopted." My father said.

Lana, Lisa, and Leo all looked at me. I gave a weak smile back at them. I wasn't crying. I already did. I wanted to know the story.

"Can you tell me the story? My file wasn't all that clear." I said.

My father sighed deeply and reached out to hold my mother's hand. She took it and squeezed lightly.

"It all started 16 years ago. It was August... Right?" My father asked my mother.

"Late August, early September." My mother replied.

"Yeah... No I'm stupid. It was October 3rd. I remember because we were going to take her to CPS on the 5th." My father said.

"CPS?" I asked.

"Child Protection Services. Here's the story..." My father began. "It was a normal Saturday and you mother was working in her newsstand.

"I did have a newsstand... I forgot all about that!" My mother said.

"I went out and... Hold on..." He said and stood up then walked into the living room and pulled down the United States quarters poster. He pointed at Arizona as well as a Mount Rushmore quarter glued on the side. "You mother sold me a copy of the newspaper and an anime magazine and gave me these two quarters as change."

"I remember that!" My mother said. "An old man paid with those and I knew that you needed those two so I held them for you." My mother said.

"Yeah... All I need is Illinois and Washington D.C. Anyway... I went to buy some breakfast and it began to rain when I headed back and I passed by an alley where a cat-eared baby was crying." My father looked at me. "Sound like anyone you know?"

I nodded slowly.

"That baby would soon be called Sarah, after your mother's late sister." He said and smiled weakly at me. "I took her back to your mother who helped me settle her in."

"Wow... So you and mom were that close back then?" Leo asked.

"No... I was actually getting married to another woman." My father said.

"Wow dad! How many girls have you been with? A million?" Leo asked.

"Son, I've been with them all..." My father joked then flinched when my mother glared at him. "But I gave them all up for your mother." He added quickly and kissed her apologetically."

"Who was she?" Lana asked.

"Shannon Keri..." My mother growled.

"Yeah. But we broke it off soon after...anyway! Your mother and I contemplated on leaving baby Sarah in the care of CPS. I mean I was 25 and your mother was 24. Neither of us had children or knew the first thing about them. We were headed to the CPS building when we purposely got distracted by a yard sale."

"Yard sale?" I asked.

"Yeah... Well it was a moving sell. We talked to the couple there until we had to go back to my place for some reason."

"Xena." My mother informed him.

"Oh yeah! We bought the box set for Xena Warrior Princess." My father said.

"Who's Xena Warrior Princess?" Leo asked.

"That is a story for some other time, Leo." My father said. "Anyway... We ended up keeping Sarah for another day, then another week, then another, then a month then a year. And before we knew it. She began to speak and call me Dad and your mother Mom, she called your uncle a cabron."

I chuckled as Leo, Lana and Lisa laughed out loud.

"Uncle, Roberto? I did not!" I protested.

My mother chuckled. "Yeah, you did. He laughed it off though. That's why she calls you... Ama... Amla... What does he call her?"

"Alma de Dios." My father said.

"God's soul." I said.

"Now you could see the irony. Anyway... How many times have I said 'anyway' anyway? Anyway, we had already decided to keep her."

"Why did you keep me?" I asked.

"Well you see... My dog had just run away and my bird just got eaten by some alley cat so I needed another pet." My father began.

My mother smacked him in the arm. "Stop that, can't you see she's being serious? No honey. We kept you because we loved you and your father had asked me to marry him in February and it just felt right with the three of us."

"We got used to you being around and loved you as our real daughter. And you just grew up and up and it became harder and harder to tell you. We were going to tell you eventually but we never really saw a good time. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I guess I kind of already knew." I said. "I mean I'm not a ginger or Mexican. I'm half cat." I let my cat ears and tail extend.

"You, Sarah, don't have to be anything other than what you are." My father said.

"What am I?" I asked; honestly curious.

"You're Sarah Cera. Carlos and Elizabeth Cera's daughter...our daughter...and nothing will ever change that. Do you know why?" My father asked.

I shook my head.

"Because we love you. I love you. Your mother loves you. These mixed race freaks love you." He said and gestured at Leo, Lisa and Lana.

My three younger siblings nodded happily.

"We all love you, sweetie." My mother said. "And nothing will ever change that."

I began to sob lightly.

"Get your ass over here, Chika." My father said and stood up to walk closer to me.

I stood up and ran into his arms and cried. He held me and stroked my hair with one hand and patted my back with the other while making soothing noises.

"Llora, m'ija, llora, it's okay. Daddy's here." He said.

I nodded quickly and let my tears fall into his shirt. I move my tail to caress his hand and it slowly wrapped around his arm, almost if by instinct. I didn't stop it. I just let my tail wrap around my father's arm as my mother came over and hugged me from behind. Leo, Lisa, and Lana came over and joined in.

"Thank you." I sobbed. "Thank you for being there for me."

"You got it, Chika." My father said. "We will always be here for you. That's what family does. Funny thing is that we were just going to ask you to not hang out with your friend tomorrow and go with your mother to her eye doctor so she doesn't have to drive with blurry vision."

I laughed out loud and pulled him closer to me. "You got it...dad."

-0-

A month passed and I lay on the edge of Dianah's bed as we watched a movie. I had told her that I was adopted and she didn't make a big deal out of it. That detail would surface once in a while but it wasn't anything that changed our friendship. I played with Alex, their family cat, while Dianah was more interested in the current issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

"'How to make a guy have an orgasm they won't forget'" Dianah read.

"Ew! Why do you read that stuff? You don't even have a boyfriend." I said.

"No, but I'll be prepared when I do." She said.

"You've turned down the last three guys that have asked you out. I think there's something that you're not telling me." I said and put a chocolate covered strawberry in my mouth and threw Alex up in the air slightly. I've done it to him so much that he doesn't even flinch or scratch me anymore.

"Like what?" She asked.

"Like why would you want to spend all your time with me, a girl, instead of...I don't know, Marcus Drood." I said.

"Marcus Drood? He doesn't like me." She said.

"So why did he ask me for your number yesterday?" I replied.

"Oh my God! Did he? Details!"

Someone knocked on the bedroom door and Dianah quickly hid the Cosmopolitan magazine under her bed. Mrs. Willis walked in with a smile for one and all.

"Sarah, your mom is here to pick you up." She said.

"Thanks Mrs. Willis." I said and smiled back at her.

She gestured and closed the door. I got on my knees and stretched, a lot like a cat would. It was involuntarily and I normally only did it in the company of people I knew, but it felt right.

"Let's go Ms. Kitty." Dianah said.

"Meow!" I said and rolled of the bed and raced Dianah out the door. We both got there at the same time and we both fought for the knob so I extended my nails into claws and hissed at her. She flinched and I opened the door while laughing and shifted my claws back to nails.

"No fair!" Dianah said.

"You should have seen that coming." I replied and ran down the stairs.

"Shut up." She said and grabbed my hand.

I stopped immediately as Dianah's younger sister walked out from around the corner with her goldfish in a fish bowl. If Dianah wouldn't not have stopped me, then I would have run right into her and probably both be hurt.

"I saw that..." Dianah said.

I stuck my tongue out to her and let Ana, Dianah's kid sister, walk passed us as she headed for her room.

We walked into the living room where my mother sat in the couch and sipped some tea with Mrs. Willis and talked about yoga.

"Hi, mom." I said and walked over.

"Ready to go, Sarah?" She asked.

"Sure. Goodnight, Dianah." I said and hugged her.

"Goodnight! Text me later and tell me about the Drood situation." She said.

"Maybe." I said and followed my mother out.

We got into the minivan and drove off.

"Mom, can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Sure." She replied.

"What attracted you to dad?"

My mother chuckled and inclined her head. "He was always confident. When I first met him, and don't tell him this, he was with another woman. She was a control freak and he would do stuff just to make her mad. I was 22 and barely started working in the newsstand that was outside of his apartment building. I saw him and her walking out: going out somewhere. Your father passed by and smiled at me; it was a smile that meant little more than 'hi' but it was nice. Everyone else only saw me as the newsstand girl and nothing else. He turned back and bought an anime magazine just because he knew that the woman he was with would get annoyed. He paid me and walked off. I was gone when he came back but he would come down to talk to me most mornings, saying that he was only there to buy a newspaper and/or another anime magazine. He would always make that excuse to come down and talk to me; even for a few minutes. Sometimes twice a day."

"That is so cute!" I said.

"Yeah it is. He even began to come down to see if I had quarters he didn't, to fill that map. I traded him when I did and apologized when I didn't but he would always talk to me. He always liked to talk, which one thing I liked about him and now I can't get him to shut up half the time. I know for a fact that he started collecting those quarters after we met. Whether he started it to talk to me or if he collected them and just talked to me as a bonus, I don't know. He won't tell me either, he did say that he will tell me if I help him finish it."

"Cute! How close is he to finishing it?"

"He just needs Washington D.C. and Illinois"

"We need to find those quarter."

"Look in my purse." She said.

I turned the light on and opened her purse and looked through the coin compartment and found a single quarter. It had the words District of Columbia on the top.

"You found one?" I asked.

"Yup, bought a cup of coffee on the way here and got it as change." She said and smiled at me.

"That is so cool!" I said and looked at the quarter.

My mother stopped the van as fast as she could so I instinctively shifted my fingernails into claws and dug into the seat.

"What?" I asked.

"I saw somebody. I don't think I hit him." She said and looked around.

I looked but I couldn't see anything other than the night and the headlight beams. I looked around but still nothing. Most of the street lights were on but the moon wasn't out so it was still fairly dark.

"Imma check it out." My mother said and unbuckled then walked out. There wasn't any traffic, there never was at night.

I looked at her as she walked over to the front of the bumper and quickly put her hands over her mouth.

I gasped and unbuckled then put the quarter on the cup holder and walked out as something jumped from the front of the van and tackled my mother to the floor.

"Mom!" I yelled and ran over to see a figure standing on top of her.

The figure jerker towards me and hissed loudly. The car's headlights illuminated the figure and I was able to see the reflexing in his eyes. The same cat eyes I get when I shift my vision over to cat form. I saw some cat like ears coming out of his head, but wasn't able to see what color they were. He was a cat-man; he was a Darkstalkers, like me.

I shifted my hand to extend my claws and hissed loudly back at him as my ears and tail came out. He flinched and I kicked him in the head. He rolled off my mom and I helped her up as he shook his head violently. I ran into the van and helped my mom in, who looked a little shocked, and closed her door then looked around but didn't see the figure. I looked around and made my way to my side of the van without seeing the figure then opened the door and quickly looked back as the figure now stood about half an inch away from my face. I stared at him in fright and he grabbed my arm and threw me back.

I rolled twice and quickly landed on all fours and stared at him. He snarled at me then jerked forward as my mother kicked the door open.

"Sarah, get in!" My mother yelled.

I ran forward and started to get in when the figure grabbed my leg. I kicked him with my other leg and he let go. My mother took off as fast as she dared and I looked back at the figure that stood up and began to run after us. He leaped once and fell on all fours and actually continued running. He was catching up as my mother gained speed.

"Go faster!" I yelled.

"I'm trying!" She replied and forced the pedal further.

She had to slow to make a turn, which gave the man cat enough time to catch up. He jumped and smashed through the back windshield and hit the middle seats. My mother turned wildly and made him hit the side door. I reached back to try and open the door, to make him fall out, but he just slashed at my hand.

I wasn't able to retreat my hand in time so blood flew out when I pulled it back.

"Sarah, are you okay?" My mother asked.

"Yeah." I said and gasped when he reached over the chairs and grabbed my hair and pulled.

I was forced onto the seat and exclaimed in pain. My mother tried swerving to make the guy let go but he just held on to my hair.

I reached over and lowered the seat quickly so his grip loosened. I rolled back and lifted my leg and kicked him in the head, it hurt to do that but I needed to do something so he would let go.

He dropped back into the seat then jumped forward at me. I ducked enough so he would hit the dashboard; I then rolled back until I sat on the back seat. He landed on my seat and I punched him once. I was doing all this on instinct, but I didn't know if it was the human's or the cat's.

He grunted then punched me once, which made me sit back down on the back seat as my dizziness disappeared in time to see him reach for me. My hand slashed forward by instinct and I was able to cut him.

He grunted then rolled backwards and wrapped his feet around my midsection as my mother turned the car quickly and made him knock his head on the glass, but it didn't break. He was a lot more nibble than I was which meant that I would have to outsmart him.

I opened the door when I felt his grip loosen and he fell out of the car. I then sighed and began to close the door but it wouldn't budge. I looked at it and saw the guy that had dug his claws into the door and held on. He reached up and grabbed my hair again then let go of his grip on the door and fell out as he dragged me with him.

We both hit the road pretty hard and rolled several times, regardless of what I did to try and stop it.

I gasped for air when we finally stopped and I heard my mother's van wheels screech as my mother tried stopping.

I began to stand up and was forced down by the guy who had his car foot on my back. My mother had now turned around and drove back towards us. The guy let go of my back and I forced myself up then groaned loudly as he dropped his foot on my head, making me hit the pavement.

The world span for a while as the guy threw me over his shoulder and ran off into the night and into the very light traffic. A cop had seen the guy as he carried me off and turned his cop car around and blared his siren.

The guy flinched, as if he didn't really know what to do, and ran faster.

The cop car approached us and I silently cheered him on as my head began to level. I saw a man in front of us crack his knuckles and stepped aside and into the street in front of the oncoming cop car that screeched as his tires locked in an attempt to stop. The man thruster his hand forward as the cop car reached him. And to my surprise, the cop car actually jerked to a stop and tilted up about a foot in the air and fell back down. I thought I was just seeing things until I saw the officer, who still sat in the driver's seat but bleeding from his forehead. He sat in his car, dazed and confused, as my vision focused and I blinked several times then pulled my foot back and kicked the cat guy in the stomach as hard as I could.

He folded over and loosed his grip on me so I hit the floor on my ass and stood up but lost my balance and fell over on all fours.

The cat guy stood up but hunched as he held himself as he walked towards me. I forced myself up and ran at him as steadily as I could. He flinched and didn't react as I knocked him to the floor and bit his shoulder blade as hard as I could, with my extended fangs.

He howled and hissed and tried to push me off but I held on with all the strength I could master. I shifted my fingernails into claws and dug them into the cat guy's side.

He yelled out hit me in the back twice with his fist but I refused to let to.

"Cecil ramb! Kad ran uvv sa!" He yelled out and I felt something grab my waist and squeeze tightly.

I gasped in pain as the other man, who had stopped the cop car, crushed my midsection. I yelled loudly and let go of the cat guy's shoulder and he quickly shoved my arms aside which made me release my claws from within him.

The man bear hugged me as he dragged me into an alley and out of view as I felt my midsection being crushed.

I groaned loudly as they I coughed up blood.

"Cecil, cdub ed, oui'na gemmehk ran!" The cat guy said.

"Cunno, Kaleb" The bigger man said and let me go. I hit the floor on my side and gasped in pain but didn't dare move, in case something was broken.

I looked up to the cat man who looked at me. His face covered by the darkness of the alley by I could see kindness in his eyes. He gave me a weak smile and wiped some booed from under my lip.

I was too weak to protest so I turned my head away from him, in time to see a van drive by quickly and muttered the word "mom..." Before I blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8: Journeys End

_Chapter 8_: **Journeys end**

(Kaleb)

I entered the facility I call home and sat down hard on the floor as my vision went in and out of focus.

"Kaleb, yna oui ugyo? Oui tuh'd muug duu kuut." (Kaleb, are you okay? You don't look too good.") Cecil asked me as he carried the brown haired cat-girl into the building. He stopped next to me and let the unconscious girl down.

"Oayr, Cecil, E's ugyo... E zicd mucd duu silr pmuut." ("Yeah, Cecil, I'm okay... I just lost too much blood.") I said held my pawed hands over my painful sides. 'She really kicked my ass, didn't she?' I thought and shrunk my paws back into my regular human hands.

"Kaleb, fyhd sa du kad Jennifer? Cra ymfyoc ghufc fryd du tu." (Kaleb, want me to get Jennifer? She always knows what to do.) Cecil asked and looked worried while playing with his fingers, a habit he picked up from me.

"Hu, Cecil, ed'c ugyo. E haat nacd, dryhg oui." ("No, Cecil, it's okay. I need rest, thank you.") I replied and shifted painfully.

"Ugyu..." Cecil said and picked the unconscious girl and tucked her under his shoulder and carried her to Jennifer.

I sighed deeply and stared at Cecil as he walked away. He was...special...functional some days but he had the mind of a ten year old so he got distracted easily.

I tried standing up but decided against it as the pain on my side was unbearable. I sighed deeply and forced myself up and saw my sides wounds had opened up again.

I grunted loudly and leaned on a wall for support.

"Kaleb?" Someone asked as they opened the door that lead to the medical ward.

'Here we go...' I thought as Maya walked out.

"Oh my God!" She let out and walked over to me and wrapped her arm around her shoulders to hold me up.

Maya Alexandria Vann was many things to me: a friend, a bunk buddy, a girlfriend, as well as a werewolf. Hard to believe because those are supposed to be big scary monsters but she was the most delicate thing in existence most of the time anyway. She was a real hard ass whenever I tried to put things off or did something stupid.

"It's just a scratch." I replied.

"By what, a jaguar? Holy crap, you've lost a lot of blood... I'm taking you to mom." She said and helped me limp over.

"By a girl." I said and didn't try arguing as we would just carry me there. She was only not doing so as she knew that it would hurt my pride.

Maya was a medium sized girl. Regular breast, waist, height. She had two brown and black wolf ears sticking out of her head and a wolf like tail coming from a hole on the back of her mermaid blue jean skirt.

"I'm not even going to argue with you." I said and let her lead me.

"Good! You're finally learning." She said and helped me. "I thought you didn't fight girls."

"I don't, normally. This was more of a cat fight, shut up I don't want to hear it." I said and smiled when she pouted. "She's lucky that she's a girl or I would have kicked her ass."

"Is that the girl that you have to..." She began.

"Yeah... I think so."

"Oh..."

"Can we talk about this later? I'm seeing three of you." I said and fell forward but was held up by Maya.

"Sorry about this." Maya said. Her arms rapidly grew long brown and black fur as they thickened with some light muscles. Her face extended to have a muzzle and fur as her legs shifted over and now looked like a dog's foot, if the dog was standing up right.

She bent down and lifted my legs and carried me into the ward. I grunted as she did as my sides hurt badly regardless of what I did to try to make them stop.

"She got you good." Maya said in a deeper voice.

"Yeah..." I said and went limp as the world blackened around me.

-0-

"I know what I'm doing, mom, he's my boyfriend."

"I know, honey, but you need to be careful. It will be uncomfortable if it's too tight and not effective if it's too loose."

"I know mom. I've seen you do it so much, that I'm an expert at this."

"Did you clean up the wounds?"

"Yes."

"Sanitized them?"

"Yes."

"Are you using the elastic bandage?"

"Y-no."

"Okay, Ms. Expert. Use these."

"I think that I'd rather have an actual expert working on me" I said and opened my eyes. There wasn't anyone around, which made me slightly angry but I got over it quickly.

My entire midsection was covered by a long white elastic bandage. Blood filled the bandage around my sides that now felt sore but better. My sides burned and hurt as I flexed slightly but it was tolerable.

Someone moan and I turned around and saw the brown haired cat-girl lying on the bed next to me.

She looked peaceful as she slept, but then again most girls do, or so I'm told.

I walked over and looked her up and down. Her cat parts were now gone and only the human features remained, which made her look like a regular girl: a simple brown haired girl who hid her animal parts.

This girl, Sarah I think, was the only other known cat person in the world. We have done countless searches, or so I'm told, and none have ever been found. It was down to us, a cat-man and a cat-woman.

"What are you thinking of?" I heard a voice ask.

"You know what I'm thinking of." I said.

Two hands wrapped around my waist as someone lay their head on my back.

"Are you okay with this?" I asked.

"No..."

"Want me to not do it?"

"No..."

"What should I do?"

"What you think is right."

"What is right?"

"What you're going to do."

"I don't want to lose you."

"You won't... You have to do this... I may not like this but your species depends on it. She'll understand that in time."

"Will you?"

"I already have. You won't have anything special with her."

"No, it's just business."

"It has to be done."

"No it doesn't... Maybe there are more of us out there. More cat-people. Maybe..."

"You know that they've looked. They've looked and looked but have not found a single one."

"What if WE looked?"

"We can't... Look you only have about 20 years to make as many offspring that you can with her... By that time, I'm sure some will arise and the species will be saved... If not then they'll go with plan B."

"Which is?"

"Regular humans. Maybe the cat gene is dominant and will spawn offspring that are half cat."

"I don't want to do this."

"You don't have a choice. Listen." Maya turned me around and held my hands as we stared into each other's eyes. "You have to do this. I know how you feel about me and I know that you'll think that this'll be like cheating..."

"It is cheating..."

"No, it's not." She replied and smiled. "This is just breeding. There's no love in breeding. He won't ever have what we have. I feel sorry for her, yes, but it's how it has to be. "

"I don't like this... She should have a choice."

"I know... But Jennifer says that both you and she don't have a choice." She said.

"We could run. You and me, just run. Get out of here and disappear so we don't have to deal with this."

"You and I both grew up here. There isn't anywhere for us to go, remember? This place is all we have."

"I know."

Doctor Vann walked in and smiled at us. She wore her standard high heeled shoes with a knee long skirt/blouse combo, and the traditional doctor's coat and glasses. She had long black hair and a slender face and stood at about 5'-7".

"18 hour catnaps do the trick doesn't it, Kaleb?" She asked.

"18 hours? I've been asleep for 18 hours?"

"...and 27 minutes."

I looked at the clock on the wall that read 1:54 pm.

"Oh man... I missed that movie." I said.

"It's okay; we can go see it some other time." Maya said.

Doctor Vann walked over to the bed with the brown haired cat-girl slept and made sure that the straps that held her down were fastened.

"They found another cat-girl in Spain on Tuesday. We captured her but she got away. They chased her for six blocks where she got hit by a bus as she fled. They're hoping that she wasn't the last one."

"That's horrible." Maya said.

"Yes, it is." Doctor Vann said. "This girl, do you know her name?"

"I think that the woman she was with called her Sarah." I replied.

"Better name than CG103." Doctor Vann said. "She has had a physical and she is in perfect stage for mating. They want to start this evening, if you're up to it."

"Sure, I've always wanted to mate with someone of my own species while they're tied face down onto a table." I said.

"You make it sound tacky."

"Sorry." I replied sarcastically.

Maya and I spend the next few hours together, like we always did. We drove around on my black and silver Kawasaki KLS 250S before we went for a walk around the park then bought some ice cream.

"What will happen to the babies? Will they stay with you or her? What?" Maya asked me.

"Most likely, they'll be taken from her. I won't see them as I'll just the father by birth. They'll be in charge of raising them and finding them some adequate mates." I replied.

"Are you okay with that?"

"I only want to take care of any children that you and I have together. This...this thing I'm being forced to do is nothing more than a way to continue our species...we're just two animals who need to breed. Like in a zoo..."

"I love you." She let out.

I stared at her in amazement.

"I... I love you too." I said.

She leaned over the round table and kissed me gently then licked the ice cream from the side of my lips.

"Smooth, puppy...smooth." I said.

"You know you liked it, kitty."

"Mutt."

"Fur ball."

"Flea bag."

"Fraidy cat."

"...Bitch."

She gasped loudly and looked at me then smiled. "Pussy."

I began to say something in return when she shoved the rest of my ice cream in my mouth.

I groaned and reached over, took her cone and smashed in on her cleavage.

She gasped loudly. "Cold! No fair! Imma get a gallon and pour it down your pants."

"Oh, ooh don't. That wouldn't be fair. I need those remember." I said.

"Yeah, plus you'll just use it as an excuse." She replied.

"Hey; shrinkage is real."

"Mmhmm." She said and scooped some of the ice cream on her cleavage and stuck it in her mouth, simply because she knows how that would arouse me.

-0-

We took our time heading back. I wasn't supposed to present myself until 7 at night so we still had an hour and a half to hang out. We were going to spend some time doing o mommy/daddy dance but we didn't as I needed to be able to perform tonight, so we just watched TV and snuggled.

6:45 finally came and we headed to the testing room: a large round room where privacy was going to be supplied by my request. It was the first time we were going to do something like this, the first time that we needed to.

We were always able to find groups of certain species somewhere and convince them to come here. It wasn't hard as most of our kind were social outcasts and needed somewhere to belong. They were encouraged to get together with someone of the same species, and mostly they did as one would comfort another. Maya was the youngest of four sisters that were brought to here when we were both three. She doesn't remember, but I do. I remember a lot of stuff that I shouldn't.

Jennifer told me my life story when I was younger: I was abandoned in an orphanage by my parents when I was a baby and I was adopted into many houses, one of which actually tried to kill me. Police had to take me away by force and I was brought here at age 3. I have been here ever since and had no family. No real mother or father or brothers or sisters or cousins. Just an abandoned child, accepted only by the people here.

I walked into the room before the testing room where two scientists were working on computers and reading test results to Jennifer; a tall, middle aged woman, who ran this place after her father retired. She was 5'8" tall and slender. She wasn't mean or nice; she was just whatever she needed to be to run this place. Some feared her while others looked up to her but they all respected her.

"Not ovulating but pregnancy level is still high." One scientist said.

"No birth control of any kind found in her system." The other said.

"Good." Jennifer said. "This should work out."

"Hello, Ms. Jennifer." Maya said.

Jennifer turned around and looked at us. She smiled at both of us with a genuine smile.

"Maya! Kaleb! Good to see you two. Maya, you don't have a problem with this do you?" Jennifer asked.

"We'll I'm not thrilled about it, but it's for the good of his species." Maya said and squeezed my hand.

"Shouldn't she be given a choice?" I asked.

"That would take time, Kaleb, you know that. She will understand, I would." Jennifer said.

"You would understand if you were tied down and forced to mate with a stranger?" I asked.

"If it was for the good of my species, yes. Yes I would, Kaleb." She replied.

I didn't reply.

"You will be given complete privacy. Our cameras will be turned off and so will any other recording equipment. Don't think that we're going to try and make videos and sell them on the Internet."

"Thank you." Maya said for me.

"Kaleb. I'm giving you the choice to have her be dressed up as you want. Lingerie, school girl uniform, latex cat suit, whatever you fancy, just name it."

"She's not a doll. She's a person." I protested.

"Just bring her in her underwear, please Ms. Jennifer." Maya answered for me again.

"Very well." Jennifer said and relayed the information.

It was another half hour before Jennifer ordered for the girl to be brought out. I looked through the window and saw an empty platform be raised from the ground. It looked like a folded Y shaped stand, with the single part laid flat, to hold her upper body and hands, and the split being vertical, to spread her legs apart.

A door opened and three scientists walked in, each with some rope around the girl's neck and midsection as they all held her so she wouldn't attack any of them or get away.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" She shrieked as she struggled to get her tied hands free. She was in her human form and looked like a simple girl.

She was in her underwear: a simple bikini bottom and a plain bra. It was obvious that she wasn't planning to get naked in front of anyone when I found her.

"Leave me alone! What's that?" She yelled as the scientists pulled her closer to the stand.

The girl fought and yelled and swore the entire way there and finally pleaded when they reached it. Two scientists pulled on the rope around her neck and made her bend over, by force, and fastened a strap around her neck after they untied the rope. Her hands were left tied on her back but a heavy duty bondage glove was placed over her hands so she wouldn't claw me, her mate. Her left foot was quickly pulled out and strapped to one of the stands legs while she fought to keep the other one from them. One of the guards pulled out a lesser cattle prong and tazed the girl. She stopped fighting immediately and a scientist strapped her right foot. She was now laying on the stand with her legs wide open and ready for me. I didn't know if I liked the sight of it.

"No, please don't! I'll do anything you want just don't do that... Not like this." She cried out.

A scientist opened a panel on the side of the stand and pulled out a mouth gag and placed it over the girl's mouth. She tried yelling over the mouth piece and cry but none of the scientist listen.

The straps were checked and deemed safe and they walked back through the door they walked in through.

"This isn't right." I said.

"No, it isn't." Maya agreed with me.

"It's the only way, Kaleb. I don't want you to get hurt and she did do a number on you. She will be freed once you've inseminated her."

I sighed heavily and looked at the girl who tried to free herself.

"What do you think?" I asked Maya.

"I think...that you should do what you think is right." She said.

She always gave me that answer and I never knew what was "right".

"Here I go." I said. "Full privacy, right?"

"Yes." Jennifer said. "Take this. It's a wireless clicker. In case things start going south, just push the button and we'll come running in to help.

I took the clicker and sighed deeply. I looked at Maya and she smiled at me gingerly.

"Let's get this over with." I said and took a few steps until I reached the door. I looked back and saw Jennifer smiling at me as Maya stared. She turned around and walked out of the room and I wish I could join her.

I grabbed the doorknob and took a deep breath.

(Sarah)

I yelled as loud as the mouth gag allowed me to but nobody came. I sobbed quietly as I knew that this wasn't going to turn out well.

"Daddy..." I whispered.

I looked around at the large white room with safety one way glass and had a frightening thought.

'What if people were looking at me?' I'm sure that they are. But what for? Are they going to send wave after wave of men to have their way with me? 'Oh God, help!'

A door opened and I jerked my head to look at a teenage boy. Short brown hair, stood at about 5'11" (perfect size to line up with my bent over body). Wore some average clothes. Looked like a regular guy.

'Has he come to save me?' I thought. 'No, he's the first one. Then it'll be the second and third. Dear God... Was I here to be enjoyed by these...boys? What? Virgins? Were several virgin boys going to have their way with me so they lose their virginity? Dead lord!'

"Help!" I let out but my scream was muffled by the gag.

"I'm sorry... Nobody can hear you... Nobody can see you either." He said as the lights dimmed and tried for an intimate setting; it was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen.

I grunted loudly as I tried to escape.

"We have been granted privacy. I'm sorry. But I have to do this...for the sake of our species."

'Oh God... He...was going to breed with me...so I have children. It isn't just a sick game...I'm expected to have children for him.' I yelled in my head.

"Before we start...I want to say I'm sorry for grabbing you on the street light that." He continued.

I stared at him.

A pair of cat ears appeared on top of his head. The cat ears were pearl white with the inside being slight pink. A pear white tail appeared from behind him. It waved slowly as if to indicate that it was real.

He was the cat man that attacked mom and me in the street.

I felt some anger build up in me but it was quickly replaced by the horror I was feeling.

"We are the last known cat people and we have a duty to mate to continue our race. Please nod if you understand... Please I'm not a monster."

I shook my head and muffled something that even I didn't understand.

"Please don't hate me." He continued.

"I hate you!" I yelled but it came out distorted.

He flinched and moved closer so I squirmed. I couldn't fight, not in my condition but I could shit myself, hopefully that'll stop him. No; perverts like him thrive on that kind of stuff.

"I know your name is Sarah. Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself, that way we're not complete strangers. My name is Kaleb, Kaleb Wilmingson. I was abandoned at birth and was taken in by the last caretaker of this facility. I have no brothers or sisters or a real place to call home. "

He went on but I wasn't paying attention. The sentence "My name is Kaleb, Kaleb Wilmingson" went around and around my head.

"Kaleb..." I said but he was too busy introducing himself.

'Kaleb...Wilmingson... He's my brother! My real brother!' I yelled in my head. 'You're about to get raped by your brother, and he doesn't even know!'

I had a strange feeling come through me as he finished and walked over to stroke my hair. He moved his hand over my back until he got to my panties.

"I guess we should get started." He said and began to pull my panties off.

"No!" I yelled. "Kaleb, I'm your sister! Your sister!" I yelled but the gag made it all sound like a long groan.

"Please, let's just get this over with." He said.

I cried out as he slowly removed my panties and I was powerless to stop him. I cried out again and stopped when the sound of grinding metal echoed. I looked around and felt Kaleb stop.

A large tear appeared on the wall and a good portion of it flew apart and slid on the ground and passed underneath me and hit the other wall with enough force to make a large noise.

"Kaleb, don't you dare! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" A man yelled as he walked in. His face completely red as he pointed at Kaleb with a threatening finger.

I felt Kaleb let go of my panties and move back.

He wasn't God, but I was grateful.

'What if he isn't saving you?' The voice in the back of my head said. 'What if he just wants to go first?'

A cold chill went through my entire body as that though made sense.

"I'm sorry..." Kaleb said.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, KALEB!" He yelled as he walked closer. "Oh God, Sarah it is you! How did this happen? How did you get here?" He asked me soothingly.

He walked over and stood next to me. He stroked my hair then produced a large knife which made me cry out in shock.

"Relax; I'm not going to hurt you." He said and cut the straps that held my arms.

I let my hands fall forward then worked the one on my neck.

"Move your hands, Sarah." He said and I did as I was told.

He cut the one on my neck then moved to cut the ones from my feet.

I stood up and wobbled slightly then removed the gag from my mouth a wiped drool from my mouth and tossed the gag aside.

"Who are you?" I demanded hysterically.

"Sarah, calm down." The man said.

"No!" I yelled and let my claws extend. "Who are you and how do you know my name? How do you know me?"

"Relax. Your name is Sarah Cera, you were born on March 30th, your favorite color is tan, you go to Villa Nueva high school, and you are 17 years old. Father's name is Carlos Cera; mother's is Elizabeth Cera Belmont. You have one brother and two sisters."

"How do you know all that? Have you been keeping an eye on me?"

"Yes, but not like that. My name is Kioril."

"Kioril? Kyle Deliriotti?" I asked.

"Yes. I cared for you when you and your brother were born." He continued and moved closer to me. I moved back slightly and he stopped. "Nobody is going to hurt you, Sarah. Not while I'm here... Rána!"

A woman walked in. Her entire skin was covered in scales which made her look like a lizard. She brought some clothes folded in her arms as she walked closer to me.

I extended my hand as if to attack and hissed lightly.

Rána froze and stared at me then looked at Kioril.

"Please, Sarah, she only wants to give you this clothing." Kioril said.

"It might not be a perfect fit. But it'll cover you up." She said in a raspy voice.

I nodded slowly and she handed me a pair of shorts which I put on. They were a size bigger than what I normally wore but they would stay on. She helped me put a dressing shirt on without saying anything and all I could think was 'you don't look like a frog.'

"Kioril, what's going on?" Kaleb asked and surreptitiously fiddled with his fingers.

"Kaleb, you didn't know. It's okay." Kioril said.

"Know what? Who is this girl, how do you know her?" Kaleb asked.

"Her name is Sarah Cera. She used to belong here, when she was a baby, I had her smuggled out along with her brother. She was lost and found her way to the care of a young couple while her brother was taken to The Sisters of St. Jude's orphanage." Kioril said.

"How long ago? Was he in St. Jude with me?"

"About 17 years ago. He was found again at the age of 3 and brought back here." Kioril replied.

"Wait... I was brought back here at age 3... Oh my God..." Kaleb said as his eyes widened. "No, it can't be... Jennifer said that I have no brothers or sisters. That my parents abandoned me."

"Your parents would never do that." Kioril said.

"They tried to break us out." I let out, surprising myself. "They got chased out and mom died on the streets. Dad was brought back and died a little after." I said.

(Kaleb)

Those words hit me like a hammer.

I was about to mate with my sister.

I was supposed to impregnate her.

I gagged loudly and turned in time to throw up violently. It was more than I could bear.

"Kaleb..." Kioril started.

"I'm...an asshole. I was trying to mate with my sister. I was going to rape...this girl...my sister." I gasped and continued to vomit.

"Kaleb, you didn't know..." Sarah said.

I didn't have any pictures or actual memories of my parents or of a sister. They could have been lying, as far as I knew. But Kioril has never lied to me once, in the years I've known him. He always did pay me some special attention: would always check in and stop to talk to me whenever we met. Could he be telling the truth?

"So why don't we have the same last name?" I asked. "My last name is Wilmingson while yours is Cera."

"I was born Gale Wilmingson. My parents gave me the name Sarah, after my dead aunt, and the last name Cera. I just found out that was adopted a month ago." Sarah said.

"They waited that long?" Kioril asked.

"This can't be real." I said and shook my head slightly and breathed deeply to stop myself from vomiting again.

"It is real, Kaleb." Maya said. She stood half way in through the hole that Kioril had made. "My sister, Paula, noticed that someone opened a file from an external source. She traced the person and the file then made me a copy. I read through it several times and recognized this girl when I saw her in the medic room so I went to tell Jennifer, at first, but bumped into Rána who stopped me. I told her and she told me not to say anything and went to pass the information along to Kioril, who just got back from looking for more of your species in Québec."

"I found two males and one female. All three are siblings but agreed to come here after the younger brother finishes high school."

"Why would Jennifer lie to me?" I asked and felt my knees buckle and I fell to the floor.

"You wouldn't have got through with it if you knew!" A voice said from behind Kioril.

We all looked and Jennifer walked over with two guns in her hands. She aimed one gun in our general location and one at Maya.

"We need your species to continue, Kaleb. You wouldn't have gone through with it if you knew and we have searched high and low for more of your species." Jennifer said.

"Why is it so important to keep their species alive?" Kioril asked.

"Such a stupid question." Jennifer said and shot Kioril in the leg.

Kioril grunted loudly once then fell over as he held himself. Rána knelt next to him and tried comforting him.

"Why is it so important to continue their race? Missing links, dumbass! Any of these races might give us a better clue of where we come from. Humans have 23 chromosomes. 22 autosomes and one for the sex. Darkstalkers have 43 chromosomes in the least! This allows them to be what they are. Some Darkstalkers have more and allows them to completely shape shift and even alter their body size, shape, and complex." Jennifer said, almost historically. "We might be able to trace our origins with these creatures and their chromosomes. Sarah has 54 while Kaleb has 57. Humans have 23 and cats have 38 so that means that they should have 61, I have to understand why! I want to understand!"

"You're crazy!" Sarah yelled out.

"Maybe, but I at least I am not about to get raped by my brother. Get to it Kaleb!" She said and shot once in the air.

"No way. I'm not doing that to my...sister." I said. It was weird saying that. Just the concept of me having siblings was still new to me.

"I'm not giving you a choice. Get to it." She said and snapped her fingers.

Cecil walked in, through the hole that Kioril made, and grabbed Maya and held her in a bear hug.

"Cecil, fryd yna oui tuehk?" (Cecil, what are you doing?") I asked but didn't move.

"Cunno, Kaleb. Jennifer untanat sa du tu ed." (Sorry, Kaleb. Jennifer ordered me to do it.) Cecil said.

"I have ordered him to not hurt her, if you cooperate. He has been instructed to crush her midsection if you don't." Jennifer said.

"E tuh'd fyhd du kad eh dnuipma ykyeh, Kaleb." (I don't want to get in trouble again, Kaleb.) Cecil said.

I growled at Jennifer.

"You bitch!" I yelled out.

(Sarah)

The woman named Jennifer gasped loudly and pointed the gun at Kaleb, my brother.

"No!" I let out.

Both Jennifer and Kaleb looked at me.

"Don't hurt them." I continued.

Jennifer cocked the gun and pointed it at me. There I just something intimidating when you have a killing instrument pointed at you.

"Bend your ass over the stand, kitty." Jennifer said and shot down by my feet.

I jumped and held myself to keep from trembling.

"Sarah..." Kaleb whispered.

I shifted into my cat form; my ears, tail, eyes, and claws changed. I looked around and passed Jennifer to Rána who held her cellphone up with a message written on it. It would have been impossible for a regular human to read it but it told me an interesting fact about Kaleb that I could use.

"It's okay, Kaleb. I don't want anyone to get hurt. We have to do this..." I said.

"No, Sarah." Kaleb began. "This is wrong."

"I know." I said and turned my head to look at him, in such a way that I was able to wink at him without Jennifer seeing. "We have no choice. I just reunited with you and I don't want to lose you."

"Okay..." He said and walked over to me and took my hand and walked me over to the stand and lifted me to sit on top of it.

He moved closer and kissed my neck so he would cover my mouth with his head.

"Jennifer speaks that language you have been speaking right?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"And the big dumbass?"

"Don't call him that. He doesn't know any better. He speaks our language, some English, Spanish and French."

I turned my head and looked at his friend who was about ten feet away.

"Damn it. If only he was closer." I whispered.

"Cecil, get over here. I don't want your big stupid ass letting go of that Maya." Jennifer said.

"No soy estúpido..." He mumbled and pulled the girl higher then walked closer.

He was next to me then stopped to admire us with a childlike fascination.

"Cecil, quanto te diga, deja ir a la muchacha y abraza a Jennifer." I said.

"¿Hablas español? Hace años que no hablo el español con alguien." He replied.

"Ponme atención, Cecil. Abrázala y no la dejes ir. ¿Vale?" I said."

"Okay." He said and walked away, closer to Jennifer.

"You speak Spanish?" Kaleb asked as he passed his hands through my waist, to keep the charade going.

"My dad showed me." I replied.

"Can you two get on with it?" Jennifer said."

"Can we get some privacy?" I said looking at her.

"You lost your privacy, when Kyle busted through that door. I won't tell you again." She said and pointed the gun at Kioril's head.

"Jennifer, I think that you just need A HUG!" I yelled.

"What?" She asked then turned as the large man, named Cecil, dropped the girl and bear hugged her.

She fired the guns once then again but hit the floor every time. She ran out of bullets and dropped the guns.

"Let...go...of...me...you...stupid bastard!" Jennifer howled.

"You said bad word!" Cecil exclaimed.

Kaleb let go of me and I jumped off the stand. We both moved over to kneel next to Kioril.

"Are you okay?" Kaleb asked.

"Oh sure, I get shot every day, don't worry about me." He said sarcastically. "The bullet missed anything vital but it will need time to heal."

Someone hissed and growled loudly and viciously. We all turned to look at Cecil who was staring at Jennifer with a surprised look.

She squirmed and twitched as her body grew long black fur. Her hands shifted to large cat paws while her claws extended and stabbed into Cecil's sides.

He grunted in pain but didn't let go, he didn't know he was supposed to.

"Cecil, mad ran ku!" Kaleb yelled out.

"E lyh'd, bnaddo kenm cyet hud du." Cecil replied as Jennifer, who had not transformed into a large black cat, dug into him.

"Tell him to let her go. He said he won't until you tell her to." Kaleb said.

"Déjala ir!" I let out.

"Okay." He said and dropped the cat Jennifer.

She landed on her back and used her cat legs to kick Cecil who simply took two steps backwards.

"Ow..." He let out as he held his sides.

Jennifer stood on all fours; in her full cat form. She looked like a large black cat without any human shape, except for the breasts that were still noticeable under the fur. She jumped at us and Kaleb and I fell sideways. She missed me completely but she managed to scratch Kaleb in the side, which ripped his shirt and exposed the bandages that covered where I dug into him.

Someone howled right before a shape ran passed us and slammed into Jennifer.

A brown and black werewolf slammed Jennifer to the wall once. Jennifer used the claws on her hands and feet to hang onto the werewolf.

The werewolf whimpered and swung her around until Jennifer kicked the werewolf down and kicked her twice, digging her claws into her back each time. The wounds healed, almost immediately, but damage was still being done.

The werewolf lay on the floor and took the beating. Jennifer then bent down and picked the werewolf up by grabbing into large patches of fur and tossed him/her passed us.

"Maya!" Kaleb yelled out as he stood up and caught the werewolf who transformed back into Maya.

Maya lay in his arms as she bled from the mouth.

"I tried, Kaleb." She muttered.

"I know, baby. You're not a fighter, I am, remember." He said.

"I know. I thought I could help." She replied.

"You did, baby. You did. Let me to fight her." He began to put her down.

"No... Don't leave me..." She replied.

Kaleb stared at her and hugged her to him.

Jennifer stocked back and forward on all fours then jumped at Kaleb.

I reached out and grabbed her foot as she jumped passed me. I pulled her as hard as I could and she stopped in midair and hit the floor. I let her go as she stood up and faced me.

"Pussy thinks she can fight." Jennifer said and extended her claws.

"You fight like a girl." I said and punched her in the face, with my cat strength.

She fell back and looked at me.

"Yeah, we'll you fight like a man!" She said and jumped at me.

I moved aside and kneed her in the stomach as she landed by me.

She slashed out, with one claw; and scratched my midsection, cutting my shirt and more blood flew out that I thought would.

She stood up and ran closer to me so I kicked her in the midsection which made her bend over. I walked forward and punched her once then tried grabbing her midsection to knock her down but her body fur made me slip and let her go. She rammed me and knocked me into the ground, knocking the air out if me.

She scratched me left and right and even bit me in the shoulder. I cried out in pain and wished I was fighting a man as my foot would have disabled him.

Kaleb put Maya down and ran toward me to help but Jennifer lifted my head by my hair and held her claws to my neck.

Kaleb stopped and stared.

"I'm done playing with you two!" She said in a slightly higher voice. "I haven't killed her because she is still useful but if you move closer I will. All it would take is that I dig my claws into her neck.

She laughed then grunted loudly as she let go of me. I heard a loud smashing sound behind me as I dropped to the floor in pain. I stared at Kaleb who looked at something behind me.

"What?" I asked him and rolled to see what was happening.

A large white shaped stop up against one of the walls of the room. The shape had broken the wall with, what I assumed was, Jennifer's body.

The shape moved back and Jennifer dropped to her knees. The white shape grabbed Jennifer's hand and lifted her off the ground and slammed her to the ground in front me.

I stared at Jennifer as she breathed deeply and shook in pain.

"Lobo...you bastard..." She muttered.

I looked up at the shape and saw able to see its features.

It was male, the broad shoulders and muscular chest were a dead giveaway. He had a long muzzle with a black nose. His teeth were extended as he stared down at Jennifer; whole his clawed hands opened and closed in anticipation.

"You...would fight...a woman?" Jennifer asked.

"Woman? No woman would do what you were doing." He said. His voice was deep and intimidating, almost as if he had practiced it. "Nobody messes with my fluffy, you cat-bitch."

'Fluffy' I thought.

Memories flooded me suddenly of when I was a kid. I remembered one person always calling me Fluffy and that was...

"Uncle Mauricio?" I asked.

"Hey, girl. What are you doing here? Where's your dad?" He asked and looked at me through the corner of his narrow brown dog eyes.

"I was kidnapped by Kaleb. My dad is probably freaking out about now." I said.

"Maybe..." Mauricio said. "Wait Kaleb, kidnapped you?" He looked up and at Kaleb who helped Maya to her feet.

"Yeah, it was kind of awkward." I said.

"Really? You should tell me later. Oh shit, Kioril." He said and stepped on Jennifer as he walked towards Kioril.

"Lobo... It's good to see you." Kioril said.

"Shit, dude, look at your leg. Hey Rána." Uncle Mauricio said.

"You're charming as always, Lobo." Rána said.

"I've got charm coming out of my ass." He said and examined Kioril's leg. "Want me to take you to Vann?"

"That would be wisest." Kioril said.

"This is gonna hurt." Uncle Mauricio said and lifted Kioril onto his back, as gently as he could.

"You three, follow us." Rána said and walked behind uncle Mauricio.

Kaleb walked over and helped me up.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said and examined where Jennifer bit me.

"So... You're really my sister." He said.

"That's what I've come to understand." I replied.

"I've never had a family before. Sorry about earlier." He said.

"That's okay. You didn't know. But..." I began and slapped him.

He gasped out.

"I'm sorry. It was for the greater good." He replied.

"Greater good, my butt." I replied and punched in the shoulder but hurt myself because of Jennifer's bite.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"It hurts...but I'll be fine. Who's girly?" I asked.

"Maya? She's my girlfriend. The closest thing I have to family." Kaleb replied and looked back at Maya who was applying a bandage to a one of her cuts.

"She seems nice." I replied and looked at Jennifer who was passed out but heaving.

"Do I have to get leashes?" Rána asked as she peaked through the hole again.

"Coming!" Maya and Kaleb said at the same time.

Rána looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Coming." I said and smiled.

We all walked after Rána who waved her hands comically and hummed a song.

We passed through a lot of corridors and I jumped when I saw a girl walk through one wall, through Kaleb and through the adjacent wall.

"Hey! Evelyn, what the hell?" Kaleb yelled.

The girl stuck her head back through the wall and smiled gingerly. "Apologies Kaleb. I'm having a bit of a thought; I do hope I didn't disturb you."

"Just don't do it again, it's cold when you do it." Kaleb replied and rubbed his arms for heat. Maya walked over and wrapped her arms around him.

Several more people, around my age, walked out and passed us to get to wherever they were going. Most of them looked me over as I passed by but I didn't pay them any attention.

One girl grinned as she looked me up and down and blinked suggestively with her blank white eyes.

"Lori, stop that." Kaleb said.

"You know you like it, kitty kitty, I can tell!" She replied and looked him down then back up.

Kaleb glared at her.

"Fine." She said as her eyes returned to her regular dark blue eyes and walked passed Kaleb and towards me. "See you around." She purred touched my good shoulder.

"It looked like she was undressing me with her eyes." I said and chuckled nervously.

"She doesn't need to. She can see through as much as she wants to, clothing in particular." Kaleb informed me.

I frowned uncomfortably and adjusted my shorts.

"She's a lesbian, by the way." Kaleb added.

We passed a room where one boy was playing Hacky Sack with two copies of himself while a forth copy gave pointers and instructions.

Several girls greeted Kaleb by name as he passed by and he greeted them right back. Maya just took all of it in stride and held on to my brother. It made me jealous, actually.

It took two minutes to get to the medical ward where a woman walked back and forth to get medicine for Kioril as her heels clicked loudly on the floor.

"Maya, get me some alcohol." The woman said.

Maya shoved by us and walked towards a cabinet and pulled some green rubbing alcohol.

"No! No alcohol!" Kioril said.

"Kioril, with all due respect, act like a man." The woman said. "I've seen three year old girls make come in and out and not complain once."

"For someone who isn't trying to not disrespect, you sure are doing a good job at it." Kioril replied and hissed as the alcohol touched his wound.

"The bullet is still in there." The woman said and pulled out some surgical tweezers.

"This is going to hurt." Rána said and grabbed Kioril's hand with both of hers.

"Rána, dear. I know you're worried but you're crushing my hand and I will definitely need that later." Kioril told her.

"Sorry." She said and loosened her grip.

It took half an hour for the woman to get the bullet out and dress his wounds.

"That wasn't too bad." Kioril said when the woman was done.

"You sounded like you were going to cry." Rána said.

"No I wasn't." Kioril replied.

"Men always turn into babies when they're in pain." The woman said. "They wouldn't last one minute as a woman, I tell you."

Rána, Maya and I laughed. It was true, after all. My father would be the bravest and scariest thing in existence but would wine and complain whenever he was in pain, my brother too...

'One of my brothers...' I thought and looked at Kaleb who was sitting on a bench, by the entrance of the medical ward, in deep thought.

I moved over and sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?" I asked.

"You know."

"It's okay... I could slap you again if you felt like it would help."

"I'm good." He replied and smiled while he rubbed his cheek.

"What are you thinking of?" I asked him as Maya went to stand by the woman's side.

"You..."

I looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah... I've never had a family, other than the people here. But I grew up thinking that I was alone in the world. I grew up thinking that my parents abandoned me and I wound up here."

"Our parents..." I began. "Our parents were the pets of an old couple."

"What? Wait how do you know?"

"I read it in my file. They were an older couple's pets and were confiscated and brought here where mom had us. I don't know who called you Kaleb and me Gale but...we were broken out...by Kioril."

"Why?"

"I think it was to prevent what was about to happen from happening."

"Oh... Listen, I'm-"

"If you say that you're sorry one more time, I'll punch you in the nose." I cut him off and held my fist up to him.

"I'm..." He began and flinched when he looked at me. "I'm...going to have problems adjusting to having a sister, aren't I?"

I laughed. "Yes, yes you are. You have three sisters actually and a brother." I said.

"What? There are more of us?" He asked.

"We'll they're my family, my adopted family. I'm the oldest, Leo is the second and Lisa and Lana are twins, but Lisa was born on July 2nd at 11:26 and Lana was born on July 3rd at 12:22, remember that."

Kaleb laughed. "So which one of us is older?" He asked.

I opened my mouth then stared at him. "I don't know."

"Kaleb is older." Kioril said. "He was born about thirty minutes before you were Sarah."

"Sweet!" Kaleb said.

"No fair!" I protested.

Kaleb stood up and made a circular motion with his hands while singing the "I Popped out of Mom First" song.

I punched him lightly in the hip.

"Oh, for a girl, you sure do punch a lot!" He said and rubbed his hip.

"Well, as a girl, I could kick you too." I replied.

"Yeah, you two are siblings." Maya said.

"How could you tell?" Kaleb asked.

"You two are already arguing over trivial things." Maya replied. "My last argument, with Susan, happened because I took her pillow...we didn't talk for two days after that."

"Yeah, that's about right." I said.

"So..." Kaleb began. "Do you think that your parents will accept me into their home?"

"Of course!" I said. "No way that I'd let my twin brother out in the cold."

"Mom and dad would have wanted that." Kaleb said.

"Yes they would have." Kioril said.

We all tuned to look at him as he stood up and tried his best to not let the pain show in his face.

"Your parents were an older couple's pet, yes. But they were a lot more than that. Most people thought that they were only animals but they were more than that. Before I they were placed in my care, they were placed to be subjects for breeding. I came across them one day after their breeding session and talked to them. They were kept in kennels, much like the animals they were, so I would sneak in to talk to them and to give them extra rations. At first, I was the only one doing the talking as they didn't true me but they talked to me, after a month."

"They talked to you?" The woman doctor asked. "Their files say that they were nothing more than animals and never spoke."

"I had Rána change the files." Kioril said. "If people knew that they were more than animals then they would have been seen as a threat. Andrew, your father, was the first one to say anything: he told me their story."

"What did he say?" Kaleb asked.

"I was getting to that, Kaleb you really need to learn some patience. Maybe Sarah can drill some into you. Like I was saying: Andrew and Felicity have both been in a facility like ours but escaped, thanks to the Wilmingsons. They lived with the Wilmingsons for more than a decade before Felicity got pregnant. The older couple let Felicity out for some air and one of their neighbors saw her and called the cops because they thought that they were kidnapping people and forcing them to perform like animals."

I snorted out a laugh. "Sorry, that is just weird."

"Well the police sure thought so. They threatened to take Andrew and Felicity away if they hurt someone. The older couple was scared, they knew that their pets were calm but they didn't want to risk it. Has anyone ever here ever heard of Petplay?" He asked.

Everyone looked around at each other than at Maya who raised her hand.

Kioril raised an eyebrow at her. "Care to explain what it is?"

"Um... It's where someone dresses up like an animal and plays that role out for pleasure, normally sexual." Maya muttered.

The woman gasped and looked at her. "Young lady, where did you learn that?"

"Sorry, mom, I just happen to come across it." Maya said.

'So that's her mother...' I thought.

"I'm not happy about that." Maya's mother said.

"Rosanna, relax. It's not always sexual...and it's common in England so the older couple decided to move there, in a countryside where they could let their pets out when they wanted to and if anyone saw them then they would thing that they're just weirdoes fulfilling a fetish or something."

"I don't know what I thought about my parents..." Kaleb began. "But that wasn't it."

"Yeah..." I agreed.

"When we captured them." Kioril said in a loud voice to get out attentions again. "I tried telling them that they were safe here but they were taken from me soon after. It was a month before I saw them again. I got to know then, slowly, as they didn't speak in front of me. It took four months to get them to say a single word but when they did, they seemed to trust me. I let them walk around the labs and help me with the other "people". It was fun having them around, especially Felicity. She always had an upbeat attitude and like to talk about when she was a kid, that woman could have talked your ear off if you let her."

"I would have liked to meet them..." Kaleb said.

"Once they had you two, things changed. I fought Bohemi to let them keep you two but Sarah was sick and died a few times while you were seemed as odd because you never cried. Just stared at them with those big brown eyes."

"He still doesn't cry." Maya said. "I have not once seen him cry."

"Guys don't cry." Kaleb said.

"You sound like my dad..." I said. "Holy crap! They must be worried!"

"They've called your cellphone sixty four times... Sixty five..." Rána said and held my vibrating cell phone.

I had no idea how she got it but I ran up and snatched it from her and answered it.

"Sarah? Sarah! Answer me! Is that you?" My father yelled into the phone.

"Dad! Yeah it's me!"

"Where are you? We've been looking for you since yesterday!" My father said.

"Did that son of a bitch that attacked us hurt you?" My mother shrieked.

"Mom, no I'm fine. Really. By the way, you just called my brother a son of a bitch."

"What?" My mother asked.

Uncle Mauricio took the phone from me and put it up against his ear, awkwardly.

"Carlos! It's Mauricio. Where are you?" He said.

"Mauricio? Where the hell are you? Haven't seen you in over a decade..."

"We can talk later, when you get here." Mauricio said and gave my father directions.

I took the phone from my uncle and put it up against my mouth.

"Dad, I'm fine. Really. I'm just talking to Kaleb, Uncle Mauricio and Kioril."

"Kioril's there?" My father asked.

"Yeah, he got shot in the leg and almost cried." I said.

"Really? That doesn't sound like Kioril." My father joked, I could tell that he was calming down.

"You're asking the wrong question, Carlos." Kioril said as he leaned over.

"That sounds like Kioril. So you're really okay?" My father asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." I replied.

"So do you mind if we pass by buying some ice cream? I promised your sisters we would." My father asked.

"We are not stopping anywhere!" My mother said.

-0-

My father finished his ice cream cone as he walked into the medical ward with us.

"Dad!" I let out and ran towards him.

He hugged me tightly and actually picked me up and spun around.

"Chika, I thought we lost you! Your mom came home in tears and I had to sit her down for half an hour before she started making any sort of sense." My father said.

"I was freaking out!" My mother began. "It's not every day that my daughter gets kidnapped...and how do you mistake 'Someone took Sarah' with 'like the dog?'"

"Easy..." My father began. "I thought that you were just showing off some Spanish that you just learned. I thought you were saying 'como la perra.'"

"Sorry about that." Kaleb said and stepped forward.

My parents just looked at him for a minute.

"Chika, where did you he those clothes?" My father asked. "You look like you belong in West Wide Story."

"Hey!" Rána protested. "That was the first thing I could get. It's not my fault that she was running around in what she calls underwear."

My parents looked at in confusion as Lisa and Lana, who had been quiet up until now, walked up and kicked Kaleb in the chins.

"Ow!" Kaleb said and held himself.

"That's what you get for stealing our sister and making her be in West Side Story!" Lana said and stared angrily at Kaleb.

"You two sure are tough." Kaleb said.

I laughed and walked over to hug both my younger sisters who broke into tears.

"Kaleb...meet Lisa and Lana. Guys meet Kaleb." I said.

"Is he your boyfriend? Because he's mean!" Lisa said.

"No, now be nice. He's my twin brother. So he's your brother too." I said.

Both girls looked at Kaleb. "You're our brother? Leo is our brother too!" They said and pointed at Leo who was busy hiding behind mom.

"Yes, Gale...I mean Sarah told me." Kaleb said.

I looked at Kaleb, through the corner of my eye, and smiled.

"Mom, dad... This is Kaleb...my twin brother." I told my parents.

My father shook his hand but my mother just stared at him.

"Sorry." Kaleb said.

"You attacked us on the streets!" My mother said.

"Sorry."

"You kidnapped Sarah!"

"Sorry."

"And you expect me to just forgive you?"

Kaleb looked down and twiddled his fingers then looked at me. "Yes..."

My mother looked at him then sighed breathily. "Oh God, you are her brother aren't you?"

I laughed out loud as Lisa, Lana and Leo laughed with me.

Kaleb smiled and looked at all of us. "Sorry."

"Why do you keep saying 'sorry'?" My mother asked.

"He keeps doing that." I said and punched him lightly in the arm. "Stop being sorry for everything."

"Sorry... Sis." Kaleb said and looked down.

I sighed heavily. "You're a dork. But you're still my brother so it's okay."

"So Kaleb..." My father began. "Where are you staying?"

"I've been living here for fourteen years, since I was three." Kaleb began. "I really don't have anywhere to go... If it's okay with you...um..."

"I would like it if he was able to come live with us." I interrupted.

My mother looked at my father and raised an eye brow.

"Don't look at me like that." My father told my mother.

"What?" She replied.

"You always give me that look when you want to let me make a decision."

"Well it is your decision."

"How is it my decision?"

"You're the man. Isn't that what you always say?"

"And aren't you the one who wants me to consult you when I'm making a decision?"

She sighed. "As long as he doesn't try kidnapping anyone else, I'm okay with it."

"Cool." He said. "Now completely disregarding what the woman said..."

My mother gasped loudly and hit my father in the elbow twice.

My father laughed and threw his arm around my mother then kissed her.

"You can stay with us, if you choose." My father said.

"That would be cool." Kaleb replied.

I squealed, involuntarily, and threw my arms around Kaleb.

"Just don't try to rape me anymore, okay?" I whispered into his ear.

He laughed. "You got it."

-0- (Kaleb)

Sarah, my sister, went over to talk to her brother and sisters while her parents came to talk to me.

"One thing though." Her father began. "If you live under our roof then you'll live by our rules."

I honestly never thought I would hear that so I couldn't help but smile. "You got it."

"Welcome to the family." He said and shook my hand again. "My name is Carlos Cera. She is my wife, Elizabeth Cera."

"I'm Kaleb Wilmingson." I replied.

"Cool, Kaleb." Carlos said. "Now I don't know who that young lady is but she is staring at you."

I turned and saw Maya looking at me sadly. She smiled slightly and walked over to help her mother with Kioril.

I sighed.

"Looks like you need some time, we'll leave you alone." Elizabeth said.

They both walked back to their daughter.

I walked over to Maya who ostentatiously ignored me.

"Maya." I began.

She didn't reply as she moved and went to get something from a jar.

"I'm happy for you, Kaleb." Kioril said.

"Thanks, Kioril."

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I kept thinking I should but you seemed happy here and I didn't want to ruin anything for you. Plus Jessica forbade me from telling you, which is why I was transferred."

"It's okay." I said. "I'm glad that you came in when you did."

"Yeah." He replied. "Rána told me and I almost ran her over on my way there. I do apologize for that, Rána."

"Never saw you like that." Rána said. "Good thing I'm not made out of glass or you would have shattered me."

"Sorry." I said.

"Kaleb, none of this is your fault." Kioril began. "You were just doing what you told to do."

"What will happen to Jessica?" I asked.

"I say, throw her in for mating!" Rána began. "She is a cat and she has his that from us. Those two cat-men are going to need someone to do."

"It's not our call, Rána." Kioril said.

"Why not? Someone needs to take over, why not you?"

"The position has already been offered to me and it looks like I've got no other choice."

"Took you long enough to take hold of the reigns, Kioril." Doctor Vann said.

"Woo! Imma go get the rope! This is gonna be fun on a bun! I wonder how much I could get for their mating videos on porntube..." Rána said and began to walk off.

"Rána, don't." Kioril said.

"I can't hear you!" Rána said and kept walking.

"Xiochitl! I told you to stop." Kioril snapped.

Rána stopped and turned to look back a Kioril.

"Holy shit...this is the second time that you've used my first name...you're really serious aren't you?" Rána said.

"Kaleb, I think you should go talk to Maya. I've distracted you enough." Kioril said and stood up but quickly leaned on his good leg.

I nodded and walked around to Maya who quickly moved over to a different counter.

I sighed heavily and walked over and took her hand into mine.

"Hey..." I began.

"Hey..." She replied.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No...I mean yes...I mean no..." She said, still not looking at me.

"If you want me to stay I will." I said.

"No..."

"Oh so you're kicking me out?" I laughed out.

She glared at me from her side.

"Sorry." I said.

"No...I'm sorry." She sighed and turned to look at me. "Here you are, finally found what you've always wanted: a family...and I'm here crying about me being alone."

"Maya..."

"Talk about a selfish bitch, huh?"

"You're not a bitch." I said and smiled when she raised an eye brow at me. "Okay you are but not in a derogatory form."

She smiled and shoved me with her elbow. I wrapped my hands around her and held her to me.

"Do you want this?" She asked.

"Not if it means losing you." I replied.

"You won't lose me...will I lose you?"

"No."

"Just promise me that you'll come visit a lot and still take me out and stuff."

"I promise."

"...and that you won't have another girl on the outside."

"I promise."

"Really promise, I know how you cats are."

"I promise I won't have another girl other than you."

She wrapped her hands around me.

"Now, a guy or something yes but not another girl." I said smiling.

She punched me slightly in the stomach. "Jerk... Call me tonight, after you get situated, okay."

"You got it."

"Make sure to put on clean underwear."

"Okay, mom."

"Go be with your family, you freak."

"Fine, weirdo."

"Abomination."

"Mutant."

"...cat."

"Ooh, dog."

"Leg-licker."

"Butt-sniffer."

She began to say something by I interrupted her by kissing her in the mouth.

She mumbled for a second then just went with it. It was about a minute and a half before we broke apart.

"We really have to work on your kissing skills." She chuckled.

"Hey, you're the one kissing a cat, what's wrong with you?" I replied.

"Go be with your family." She said and kissed me quickly.

"Love you."

"Love you too. Now go before I get you spayed."

"That'll be your loss." I said and walked back to Carlos and Elizabeth.

"So are you coming?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah. I just got to get some things."

"Just go, I'll have Cecil and Rána bring them to you tomorrow!" Kioril said.

"Okay but I'm not carrying anything heavy." Rána said.

"That's why I'm going to send Cecil with you." Kioril replied.

"Oh so I can't lift heavy things because I'm a girl?"

"I'm two seconds away from throwing you in for breeding."

"Only if I get my choice of mate." She purred.

-0- (Sarah)

I opened the front door, animatedly and waved everyone in. My father stared at me as he walked by.

"No esta más loca por falta de vitaminas..." He mumbled.

"I heard that!" I announced.

"Good!" He called back as he walked into the living room.

My mother walked in and carried a sleepy Lana in her arms.

Lisa and Leo walked in afterwards and headed upstairs.

Kaleb walked forward then stopped in front of the door and just looked in then at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I've...never been into another person's home. Do I have to ask permission to enter?" He said.

"This is your home now, dummy. What are you a vampire?" I asked and shoved him in.

"Vampire?" He asked as I closed the door.

"Yes, vampires: scary undead monsters that drink people's blood."

"I know what a vampire is. I just don't know why a vampire would ever have to ask permission to enter a person's house? Isn't that where they feed?"

"It's a movie, okay. They don't have to make sense." I replied and took him upstairs by the hand.

"Slow down." He said as I practically dragged him up the stairs.

"Keep up. For a boy, you sure are slow." I said.

"Thanks for that, little sister."

I turned around and blew a raspberry at him as we reached the top of the stairs.

"The room at the end of the hall is moms and dads." I said and walked over to open the door so he could see it. "The door next to it goes into the master bath, there's a second door in there that leads into their bedroom. Make sure to lock both doors when you're using it."

"Okay..." He said.

"That room is a closet." I said and pointed to the other side of the master bathroom door. "Next, in from of the stairs, is Leo's room." I knocked on the door.

"Sarah?" Leo asked.

"I'm showing Kaleb around, can he see your room?" She asked. "He's going through puberty, so don't give him a hard time." I whispered to Kaleb as the door opened.

Leo's room was a typical teenage boy's room; band posters on the wall, girly calendar hidden behind the door that mom didn't know about, blue walls, model airplanes on the shelves. Socks, pants and shirts everywhere.

"It's a mess!" I said.

"No, it's a guy's room." Kaleb said.

"Finally! Someone who understands." Leo said and butted Kaleb's fist.

"Boys..." I muttered and pulled Kaleb away and out the door.

I stopped quickly as I almost ran into my mom, who was coming out of Lisa's and Lana's room.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's okay. Come down when you're done, so we could talk." She said and walked down the stairs.

"This is Lisa's and Lana's room." I said and opened the door slowly.

Their room was girly as all hell. Lana's half of the room was colored peach with yellow dashes here and there. Dolls and coloring books filled the drawers. Lana was covered by blankets and fast asleep, she must have been tired.

Lisa's half was colored yellow with peach stripes here and there. Her half of the room looked exactly like Lana's but mirrored. Her dolls and coloring books and other things that belonged kids were scattered on top of her drawers. She colored in a Disney princess coloring book and was drawing some cat ears on Bell's head when she looked up at us.

"Hi." She said. "Sorry for kicking you."

"It's okay." Kaleb said.

"What are you drawing?" I asked.

"Kitty-Bell." She said and held out the drawing.

"Cute!" I said and smiled at her.

"So are you going to stay with us, mister?"

"Mister?" Kaleb asked.

"Yes he is. His name is Kaleb, Lisa. He's your brother now." I said.

"Okay..." She replied.

"I really like your drawing." Kaleb said.

"You do? I have more! Do you want to see?" Lisa asked animatedly.

"Sure!" Kaleb said and sat through Lisa's entire portfolio of drawings. Some of the people she drew had cat ears while some didn't. "Imma draw you in here too."

"That would be cool!" Kaleb said.

Lisa giggled and began to draw then stopped and looked at Kaleb. She took a silver crayon and poked him with it then began to draw a kid representation of a man with cat parts in the silver crayon.

"You sure know how to talk to kids." My mother said.

We turned and saw both my parents standing by the door and smiling at Kaleb and me.

"Hi guys." Kaleb said. "Sorry, Sarah wanted to show me around."

"It's okay." My father began. "It's your house too. We would like to talk to you and stuff, if you're done looking at Lisa's drawings."

"Sure." He said and smiled at me as he walked downstairs with my parents.

"I like him." Lisa said.

"Ooh, Lisa likes her brother, Lisa and Kaleb, sitting on a tree." I taunted her.

"No! I mean like a brother. He's really nice." She replied and poked me with a red crayon. I'm out of orange, is it okay if you're red?"

"Yeah he is. You keep at it, okay." I said and walked to my room.

It was colored in light blue walls with posters of anime characters. Dianah got them for me. She would find posters with people with animal parts: Inuyasha from Inuyasha had dog ears, Holo from Wolf and Spice had wolf parts, and Pink from Dragon Pink had cat parts. Never saw that last one myself but Dianah got it for me then found out that it was from an 18+ anime a few days later. Dad would kick my ass if I dressed up like that.

I looked at my drawers and saw my underwear drawer open so I closed it then opened I again to pull my diary out.

I sat on my bed and began to write.

"I met my brother today. My real brother. He's everything that I thought that a brother of mine would be (What I think that Leo will grow up to be.) He's tall and light and handsome. Can't wait to show him off to Dianah tomorrow, she's going to freak. He's a nice guy too, sure he tried to rape me, but nobody's perfect right?"

Someone knocked on the door about ten minutes later so I looked up. "Come in."

Kaleb walked in and looked around. "Hi."

"Hi." I replied.

"This is your room?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Um...they said that I should sleep in your room tonight...they'll get a futon for me tomorrow and put it your brother's room.

"He is your brother too, Kaleb." I said and closed my diary.

"What were you doing?"

"Writing."

"About what?"

"You."

"Anything good?"

"No."

"I think I'm starting to understand you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm getting used to you. That I'm getting used to having a family."

"We're...an interesting bunch..." I said and bit my lip slightly. "Dad could be strict some days while he's the coolest guy to have around most others. Mom cares a lot for us and is a great cook but will ask you a million and a half questions a day. Lisa and Lana are random; have you ever seen Harry Potter?"

"No. Wait is that the one with the witches and wizards?"

"Yes."

"Oh...no."

I stared at him for a while then sighed. "That is gonna change. But anyway, oh God I sound like dad... Anyways...damn it... However...I think that they're trying to imitate George and Fred. They're gingers and everything."

"What's a ginger?"

"Mom's a ginger, Lisa and Lana are gingers, and Leo is a ginger."

"Um...code name for your family?" He asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Red hair, freckles, pale skin."

"Oh...wait Leo doesn't have red hair or pale skin."

"No he's darker and has more of a copper colored hair."

"So what are we? Cat people?"

"Try... People." I said and gestured with my hands. "Mom and dad have always treated me like a regular person so that's what I am. They'll treat you the same too. Kaleb, they're your parents too."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"I still have that slap with your name on it, if you want it."

He laughed quietly. "This is going to take some getting used to. Oh man, I told Maya that I'd call her!"

I tossed him the cordless phone that I kept in my room for when Dianah called me.

I caught it, in a less than masculine way, and began to dial then stopped and looked at me with a blank expression.

"What's her number?" He asked me.

I stared at him. "You don't know her number?" I asked him.

"Um..."

"What kind of boyfriend are you?" I taunted him.

"Hey, we were always together so we didn't need phones."

The phone rang and he dropped it as he jumped back. I sighed and picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?" I asked. "Cera residence."

"Hello? Sarah?"

"Last time I checked."

"Hi, it's Maya, I realized that Kaleb does not know our phone number so I got yours from your uncle, he is your uncle right."

"Close enough, anyway. Hold on." I said and pulled the phone from me and handed it to Kaleb.

"Here you go, Romeo 2030."

He took the phone and put it up against his ear. "Hello?"

I let him talk to his girlfriend and walked out and into the kitchen where my parents were talking.

"Hey, if he's okay with it then I see no problem." My father said. As I hid on the side of the door to overhear them.

"Can we really trust him though? I mean he did kidnap and tried to...you know, Sarah." My mother said.

"Yeah, we should just get rid of Sarah and keep Kaleb."

"Huh? Oh yeah, we'll kick her out tomorrow!"

I frowned and opened my mouth widely.

"What do you think, Sarah?" My father asked.

I smiled. "How did you know I was here?"

"You smell like formaldehyde." My father said.

"Five bucks says that you can't spell that." I said and crossed my arms and cocked my hip.

"F-o-r...m...a?...l...d...a...l?"

"F-o-r-m-a-l-d-e-h-y-d-e, formaldehyde."

"Muchachita lista." My father said and pulled out his wallet then dropped five dollars onto the table.

"Thank you." I said and put the money in my back pocket.

"Sarah, we have no problem with your brother staying here, if he wants to stay here." My mother said.

"I'm not forcing him to be here." I replied.

"I know you're not. But we need to make that clear to him." My mother said.

"Want me to talk to him?" I asked.

"If you want, if not then we'll talk to him tomorrow." She replied.

"Thanks guys, this means a lot to me." I said.

"Don't thank us." My father said.

"But it's so cool of you guys to do this." I replied.

"You didn't let me finish." My father said. "Just consider it even for your phone bill: $43 of Internet? What are you doing on the Internet?"

I chuckled nervously. "Well..."

-0-

"You suck, you know that?" Dianah said as we ate in the restaurant outside of school.

"Why?" I asked.

"You found your brother, after 17 years, and you couldn't have found him while he was still single. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find guys who are nice, funny, and unique and good looking? And you can't get any more unique than being half cat. And the things I could show him...hmm."

"Well a: he found me, I didn't find him. B: I love you, dude, but you are not going out with my brother. And c: eww! Have you been reading Cosmopolitan again?"

"Yes, no, maybe..." She said quickly.

"You need to get your priorities straight."

"Whatever, did you ask him what I asked you to ask him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because he has a girlfriend, Dianah, I am not asking my brother to go to prom with you."

"Why not?"

"Because he would do it."

"Please, Sarah! Please, please!"

"No."

"I'll bake you some brownies with pecans, like you like."

"N-" I began then looked at her. "How many brownies?"

"The whole batch! I'll only take like five."

"Four."

"Five."

"Three."

"Five."

"Suit yourself then."

"Five and I'll throw in some chocolate chips in the batch."

"I'll ask him, but I won't make any promises."

"He's got a motorcycle, how cool! Wait, I could ride on the back of his motorcycle with a dress, can't I?"

"I don't know I haven't worn a dress in years." I said.

Kaleb walked in and looked around.

"Kaleb, right here." Dianah said and waved animatedly.

"You look like a fan girl." I said.

"I wouldn't mind stocking him." She muttered.

"Sarah, Dianah, how's it going?" Kale asked as he sat down and took half of my burger.

"Hey!" I let out as he chewed on it.

"What?" He asked. "Fine." He sat it out onto his hand and offered the chewed mess at me.

"EW!" I let out and hid behind Dianah.

"Take it." Kaleb said, smiling.

"No, you can have it; I'll get me another one." I said.

He shrugged and put it back into his mouth and finished eating it.

"Dianah, you want to go to prom with this weirdo?" I asked as Kaleb wiped his hand on some napkins.

"What's prom?" He asked.

"It's a hangout spot." Dianah said.

"Where couples dance and have a good time. Most high school students go. It's like tradition."

"Oh...we're not a couple though, Dianah." Kaleb said.

"I know... I have noticed." Dianah said.

"Are you going Sarah?" Kaleb asked me.

"Yeah, Matt's taking me." I replied.

"Who's Matt?" Kaleb asked.

"Sarah's on again off again boyfriend."

"Oh... Sure I'll go with you, Dianah." Kaleb said.

"Sweet!" Dianah let out.

"No, he is going to make sure that Maya, his girlfriend, is okay with him going." I said.

"Oh yeah..." Kaleb said.

"Party pooper." Dianah said.

"You two are weird." Kaleb said. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yes!" Dianah said. "Oh you mean Sarah."

"Imma wait until Dianah's mom gets here." I said as Dianah's little sister walked in. She saw Dianah and walked over.

"Mom's outside; ready to go? Hi Sarah." Ana said.

"Yeah. Call me later, Sarah. Let me know what happens." Dianah said and squeezed passed Kaleb. I she brushed up against him and touched his chest with her bust as she slowly walked passed.

Kaleb looked as Dianah waved goodbye to him.

"I think she likes me." Kaleb said as he sat down and took some of my tamarindo.

"Gee, you think?" I said sarcastically as he made a dissatisfied taste.

"Why do you guys like that stuff? It's nasty." He said.

"No it isn't. It's because you grew up white." I said.

"Hey, we're the same race."

"Yeah but I grew up Mexican."

I ordered two more combos and we ate. It was my second serving but I was hungry.

It was about half an hour before we walked out. Stephanie walked in at the same time and looked at me.

"Hi, adopted girl, how much did you pay this guy to be seen with you?"

She and her two friends laughed mockingly.

"For your information, this is my brother." I replied and gritted my teeth.

"Yeah right, he doesn't even look like you."

I began to say something when Kaleb put his hand on my shoulder. "Sarah, I didn't know that you had such fatuous friends."

She gasped. "Boy, I am not fat!" Stephanie said and cocked a hip. Her friends made similar poses.

"I didn't call you fat, I called you fatuous. Which means stupid, and I'd say that's about right." Kaleb said emotionless.

Stephanie stuttered a few times before Kaleb and I began to laugh loudly. A few students that overheard laughed at Stephanie as well and butted Kaleb's fist.

Stephanie muttered something then stormed out as her friends followed.

"Bro, you are alright." I said and threw my hand around him.

"You got it, sis." He said and walked out.

I followed him and got onto the back of his bike.

"When did dad take you to get your driver's license?" I yelled over the engine.

"What's a driver's license?" He asked and took off then slapped Stephanie's ass when he passed by.

Kaleb flew into traffic and dodged cars and minivans.

He said something but I couldn't hear him.

"What?" I yelled.

"I said: that I never got around to asking you." He yelled back while he stopped behind a cop car. "What did Rána show you when we first met? She showed you something on her cellphone, didn't she?"

"Yeah. She wrote the message 'Kaleb is great at taking hints'." I said as we drove off.

"Really?" He asked as he swirled passed the cop who turned his siren on. Kaleb passed between two minivans and turned the corner before the cop was able to drive around the minivans.

"Mom would freak if she knew you did that!" I said and looked back as the cop tried going around cars and failing.

"Mom doesn't have to know." Kaleb said.

"Now you sound like dad."

"...I do don't I?"


	9. Chapter 9: Two Cats and a Dog

_Chapter 9_: **Two Cats and a Dog**

"Get up, Sarah!" Kaleb said as he opened the curtains in my bedroom.

I mumbled a reply and moved the covers over my head.

"Get up." He said and pulled my foot and dragged me half off the bed so my upper half was still covered by the blankets while my bottom half was bent over the bed. "This looks familiar." He added and chuckled when I flipped him off.

I threw the blankets off me and slid off the bed then stood in my room in my underwear and didn't think anything of it anymore, at least not when Kaleb was around.

"Mom wants to take you to get your dress for tomorrow." Kaleb said and shoved me slightly as he walked by.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes then realized that Leo was standing at my door and staring at me so I put my hands on my hips and stared back at him until he blushed and walked away.

It took me about half an hour to wake up and put my clothes on and apply some mascara then remembered that I should probably take a shower.

-0-

"Oh my God! Tomorrow is going to be so cool! Kaleb is taking me to prom and you're going with Matt." Dianah said as she sat in the middle seat of my mother's minivan while I sat in the passenger side.

"Yay..." I mumbled and drank some of the Micky D's coffee that my mom and I were sharing.

"You don't sound excited." She added.

"I stayed up till three and woke up about an hour and a half ago. I'm looking forward to crashing again." I said then yawned loudly.

"You shouldn't sleep that late, Sarah, what were you doing?" My mother asked and took the coffee from me.

"Kaleb never saw Home Alone so we stayed up watching the first two." I replied.

"Kaleb is a boy; they have energy to spare." My mother replied.

"Where do they get all that energy from?" Dianah asked.

"Who knows..." I replied.

"Testosterone maybe... I still think that they're acting like they have the energy of a newborn to piss us off then take quick naps while we're not looking." My mother said.

"Stop!" Dianah yelled and my mother stepped on the breaks instantly and looked shocked.

A little boy ran into the street in front of us just as we would have been passing by. The boy's mother ran over and picked the boy up, spanked him once and gestured a thanks.

We both turned to look at Dianah who smiled at us.

"Both these girls are going to be the death of me." My mother muttered and moved forward.

We reached the mall and got out and I stumbled behind Dianah who followed the other girls as they entered the stores in to get their dresses for prom. I had half a mind to let myself fall and take a small nap while Dianah dragged me into the shop.

Girls ran around, and dragged their male counterparts along, while chatting animatedly as I struggled to do something more than exist.

"So what's Kaleb going to be wearing?" Dianah asked me.

"I dunno, clothes maybe." I said and stopped at the pretzel show that barely opened and got some pink lemonade.

"Does she always eat when she comes to the mall?" My mother asked Dianah.

"Every time, twice sometimes." Dianah replied.

"I wish I had her metabolism. I didn't go for a walk for a week and gained three pounds." My mother added. "She eats three or four times a day and doesn't do anything but still manages to lose weight."

"Is your son the same way?"

"Kaleb? Yeah. Both Kaleb and Sarah sat down to watch The Blair Witch the other night and went through an entire bucket of ice cream. The sugar didn't keep them up either, which annoyed me but whatever."

"Want some?" I asked them as I came closer with the large cup filled with the pink liquid.

Both my mother and Dianah took sips as we headed into the shop where we were going to pick our dresses up.

I turned in time to see a woman, who looked kind of like Rána walk into Marianette's Boutique (a lingerie store that my mother forbade me to enter until I was married.)

"What's up?" My mother asked.

"I thought I saw someone." I replied and followed them in.

The store was normally empty but we were three of 23 customers, all female, inside of the store and either trying out some of the display dresses, waiting to try them on or examining them.

My dress was light blue with some fancy stuff but nothing too much, the Cera allowance only allowed for so much. My parents offered to help me but I wanted to buy it with my savings. Dianah's dress was pink and made my dress look masculine as it had extra lace and glitter and tassels. We were going to get our dresses last week but they needed to work on the bust for Dianah's dress as it was made for a 32b size and her 36d would be uncomfortable.

She would get mad when I told her that she must have been a cow in her last life as she still had the utters.

-0- Kaleb

Maya and I played a rail shooter in the downtown arcade. We both had been trying to beat the game since we were 14 so we were both good at it.

"Get the guy!" I said and pointed at the alien that came from the right as Maya shot the guy on the left.

"Trade!" She said and I tossed her the first player's riffle while she tossed me the second player's shotgun so I took care of the smaller enemies on the ground with the virtual spread of the shotgun while she took care of the enemies in the background.

We have never beaten the game as we either would have to leave or we would run out of quarters but today was different: we had all day to ourselves and about thirty dollars in quarters.

We shot, died, and fed quarters to the machine for about an hour now. The game only had 7 stages but they were long and you would have to double back around if you went the wrong way.

"So when are you taking whatshername to that dance?" Maya asked as she traded guns with me and shot two aliens at the same time.

"Dianah? It's not today, it's tomorrow. Around five I think, I really don't remember but dad is taking me to get my driver's license before though."

"Took you long enough!" She replied the squealed slightly as we just reached the seventh stage; our old record was the boss at stage six.

"Hey, I won't get caught, you know that." I replied as I shot the option to start off at the basement.

"No, not the basement! There are always monsters at the basement!" She protested.

"Too late."

"Well you should have a license as the last thing that you need, ooh power up! The last thing you need is to get arrested."

"You're okay with me taking Dianah right?"

"Yeah, you guys are just friends right?"

"Well she's Sarah's friend, I'm just being nice."

"That's my Kaleb, always being nice. Wait you called Carlos your dad...does that mean that you've accepted them as your parents?"

"It had to happen sometime." I informed her and shot a ventilation shaft that made a lot of mutated spiders come out.

"Why did you do that?"

"Sorry, I didn't know." I replied as we both had to put two extra quarters for an extra life.

"You better take pictures for me! I've never been to a dance, except for that one time that we had one. That was a mess though."

"Hey, you weren't complaining when you tossed Hank at that wall."

"He pissed me off. I don't care if we are both the same species; he doesn't need to be humping my leg."

The alarm that sounds whenever anyone scores a perfect game in the bowling simulator sounded.

"Would you throw me to a wall if I humped your leg?" I asked.

"Cat's don't hump legs, remember?" She replied and bumped me with her hip. "They have orgies."

"Well what if..."

"If you even start to suggest that we have an orgy with anyone else; I'll dump you in cement and display you in the medical ward and use your cemented corpse to hang coats."

"Meow!" I said.

"Woof woof!"

We spent about two dollars getting to the last stage and were 50 cents shy of thirteen on the last boss.

"His back! His weakness is the orb in his back!" Maya practically yelled.

"I know!" I yelled over the conversations of the people gathered behind us as we fed the machine.

We both shot at the last guy as he span and flew from the screen and threw some large cogs at us. The niche of the game was that the guns you used seemed real; the first player used a M14 carbine so you had to perform the bullet cycle after every shot while the second player used a Ithaca 37 (Stakeout) pump action shotgun. Both guns needed some sort of manual cycle after every shot, which made the game have some sort of realism. The reloading was done by performing the cycle action while not pointing at the screen, unrealistic, but there are some versions of the game where both guns have simulated ways of reloading.

We shot them as fast as we could but Maya missed one and it killed her.

"I'm out of quarters!" She said and looked through her pockets.

"Front pocket." I said and shifted as she stuck her hand in my pocket and pulled out three quarters then put two in and joined again. The last guy did his cycle and the screen flashed twice then slowly shook as the guy yelled and began to dissolve.

Maya and I kept shooting, just in case until the screen faded to white.

"We did it? WE DID IT!" Maya yelled out and hugged me as I stared at the screen where out characters filled the last monster with holes. Both characters finished the monster by shooting the orb in his back until it exploded and he dissolved into dust.

"Well that was easy..." My character said.

"Yeah." The female companion replied and the credits began to roll and an onscreen keyboard appeared in ABC order and we shot the letters that represented our name.

I wrote KWC for Kaleb Wilmingson Cera, as I unofficially took my parent's name.

Maya smiled at me then shot the initials MAV for Maya Alexandria Vann.

"I can't believe that we finally beat it!" Maya said and danced around slightly as we walked away from the arcade machine and headed up the stairs to the main level of the arcade.

"It took three years, but it's finally done!" I replied and grabbed her hand so she would stop flopping around.

"Sorry, I'm just excited, how much did we spend?" She asked.

"$22.50." I replied and pulled out some random quarters from my pocket and looked at them. One was a Washington D.C. quarter, my father collected them and my mother had the final two quarters he needed until they got lost when I attacked them.

"Wow..."

"Wanna get some nachos?"

"I'm not hungry; you always are though so I'll settle for some Mountain Dew."

"You know that stuff makes your penis smaller." I laughed.

She looked down then at me. "That would explain why there isn't one there." She joked.

She swung my arm animatedly as we walked to the snack bar and bought our food.

"So how are you adjusting to being a Cerrrrrrrrra." She asked and tried to roll her r's.

"It's Cera with one r and we're getting along well. I share my room with Leo, who talks at night." I replied and put a chip in my mouth.

"Like sleep talks?" She asked and slurped on her Mountain Dew.

"Kinda but I mean he has full conversations. It's like he speaks to someone as I can only hear his side. Sometimes at night, when I can't sleep, I just stay up and listen to him. He dreams a lot of girly dreams."

"How can someone have girly dreams? Dreams don't have genders."

"He dreams a lot of Rodney the unicorn and Willis the dolphin."

"Okay, that's girly." She giggled.

"You okay with me moving out?"

"I've gotten used to it, that black lion chick keeps asking about you." She replied and lifted an eyebrow.

"Magen? She's cool; I still need to return her copy of Mountain Side." I replied and ignored her.

"Is that all?"

"Me-ow, when has Ms. Puppy been so jealous?"

"I am not jealous. It's just that you have a whole lot of female friends and I don't want them getting the wrong idea."

"Relax; they all know that we're together and that I wouldn't do anything to mess that up. Plus I tell you everything, remember."

"That's true."

"So chill. Magen is just being flirty."

"Why are you friends with her anyway? She's a little off."

"She's a black lion...BLACK! When have you seen a black lion, in any shape or form?"

"I've seen a white tiger." She said.

"Where?"

"The zoo."

"That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh and if you say anything else, I'll kick you."

I stared at her then smiled. "Nuh-uh."

She kicked my chins and I yelled out in pain, which made the girls sitting next to us turn and look.

Maya giggled. "That was your fault."

"Imma 'your fault' my foot up your butt in a minute." I replied and took her Mountain Dew and drank some.

-0-

We stepped out of the arcade about two hours later after we played some Raging Daemons II. We walked to my motorcycle and I got on then turned the bike on as Maya jumped on my back and wrapped her arms around me.

I took off, with a little more caution than I normally do, and headed into traffic. Maya held her arms around my midsection and lay her head on my back.

"Why is your heartbeat accelerated?" She yelled over the motor.

"Don't know. Maybe because I'm with you." I yelled back.

"No really."

"I'm being serious." I replied. "I don't know why, but I feel different when I come to see you now."

"I know! It does feel different, doesn't it?"

"Yeah! I mean I liked always being with you but it was more of a given than a privilege. Now I look forward to seeing you."

"I'm glad you feel that way too." She said and held me tighter.

It took about 20 minutes to get to Average Grove Elementary, which was the building that was bought out to make room to house the facility where they house Darkstalkers. Most of the facility was underground but the grounds were kept to allow exercise for the trusted subjects. It wasn't that much different that a prison really, but only for the ones that couldn't or wouldn't be trusted. Darkstalkers like me were allowed to leave and return when we wanted as we were no threat to anyone and were actually helpful.

Kioril gave me special schooling and training when I was younger so I was given special treatment. I never knew how to properly thank him so I would normally just go ahead and carry out any request he had. Kioril ran the facility now with Rána as his second in command.

Jennifer was recovered now and she was forced to be put through the mating program. We found Tim, Gary, and Alexis, three cat siblings who had lost their parents six years back and lived on scraps and the lunch they could get during their school days. Tim and Gary were the first mates for Jennifer, by choice, and we then found a group of four Siamese cat guys in Lourdes, France and a small pocket of Canadian cat sisters.

The five sisters were kept in a basement under a house in British of Colombia, Canada by the man who beat and raped them whenever he wanted to. The girls didn't say anything for years as it was all they knew but one day, Maloriè; the oldest sister attacked the man after he was done raping her. The man was about to stab the girl and her sisters joined in the attack. The neighbors called the cops as the girl's cat noises while they attacked the man and called the police. The girls were taken away to a human shelter by the cops, and then brought here where Kioril has given them extra attention as their story was similar to Sarah's and mine.

Two of the four Siamese cat guys knew their way around medicine so they helped the Dr. Vann heal the girl's injuries.

"So..." Maya said as we got off the bike.

"So..." I repeated.

"Today was fun!" She announced.

"It was! Took us long enough to beat it!"

"Do you want to come in and hang out?" She asked.

"Sure." I said and walked in, hand in hand.

We walked down the corridor and familiar faces greeted me while others greeted Maya.

"They're using the field a lot more these days." Maya said and walked out through one of the 'FORBIDDEN' doors that lead into the open outdoor area that made up the school's campus.

Darkstalkers of all species lay in the grass or ran around while laughing. It was completely different now that Kioril was in charge.

Several different kids, no older than nine, ran around and played tag as one of the kid's mother, a German Shepard woman, yelled for her son to be careful. The German Shepard woman's husband, a black Labrador man, lay on his back and told her to leave him run around and that it was safe here.

An eagle man sat perched on the roof of one of the buildings and overlooked everyone. I knew the man, William Starr; a cool man and one of the security guards. He wasn't the kind to police anyone but you wouldn't want to be in his bad side; trust me, those talons hurt.

Three girls sat in a circle and held hands as their dolls and cars moved around on their own. The three girls were psychic with little to no training prior to residing here. Kioril recommended that they try to do what they would normally do, write, draw, clean, without using their hands at least one hour a day. They couldn't make a pencil jerk around when they got here and now all three of them were able write full stories without ever once touching the pencil or paper.

"That is awesome!" I said as Maya walked me to the back door of the first housing ward. There were three housing wards now as the shelters were all empty as nobody was being forced to live like animals anymore.

We spent the next three hours watching a movie talking and having sex. It was a normal day for us, at least it was when we were both living in the same room, but it now felt special. The time together was special, the conversation we had face to face were now a lot more interesting and the sex...was exquisite.

We lay in her futon afterwards and just stared at the ceiling fan.

"You know..." She said in a voice that sounded like it was back to normal.

"Listen; sorry about the scratches, it's the cat in me." I replied.

She turned slightly and the scratches in her back now stopped bleeding and slowly repaired themselves.

"You never scratched me before." She said.

"You never howled like that before." I replied.

"Don't take this the wrong way but sex is better when we don't have it every day."

"I know." I replied.

"When...when you were going to mate with Sarah. I felt terrible..." She began.

"Maya..." I started.

"Let me finish... I felt like, well I knew that it needed to be done but it didn't feel right. I want you for my own, Kaleb. I didn't want to share you with anyone."

"I didn't like the idea either, Maya. I hated it. All I could imagine was losing you. When I first walked in there, to do what I was going to do, I stalled. I introduced myself, I didn't have to but I did so I wouldn't have to do what I went in there to do but I'm glad I did as it gave you enough time to get Kioril."

"I've never seen him like that. Rána and I didn't get out of his way fast enough so he just went right through us. He became transparent but the point remains."

"That entire time, I kept imagining that I would lose you. I was honestly hoping that we would never find a cat woman so I wouldn't have to go through with it."

"I know you were."

"I had nightmares about it."

"I know you did."

"I was scared."

"I know, Kaleb. Trust me, I know."

"When we went to find her, she was only supposed to be a random girl; I didn't even know why I was sent to find her. But when she transformed in front of me, I was just overcome by a terrible sadness. Sadness and pain, man that girl can throw a punch."

"She whooped your ass."

"Hey; I wasn't about to fight a girl."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You wouldn't hurt her but you scratched the hell out of me." She said and examined the fading scratch on her hip."

"Does it hurt?" I asked her."

"It burns slightly."

My phone rang. It played the song Trouble Man by Eikichi Yazawa, an obscure song but catchy as hell.

"Who is it?" Maya asked.

I looked at the phone and raised an eyebrow. "It's my mom." I replied and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Kaleb, where are you?"

"I'm with Maya." I replied.

"I know you are but where?"

"Back in the facility. Why?"

"Because your father is taking us to that Chinese buffet for dinner. You didn't eat yet did you? You'd better have not; I told you that we were going out to eat."

"No, mom, I didn't eat yet. Can I bring Maya?" I asked her.

"Sure, Sarah is bringing Dianah. Have Maya wear something nice. See you there."

"They're having busty boobs and thong night!" My father yelled into the phone.

"No they're not, that's a different place.

"So let's go there."

"Do you want to be single again?"

"Bye, Kaleb." My father said.

"Bye, guys." I chuckled and hung the phone up.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, you hungry?"

"I thought I heard the sentence 'busty boobs and thong'"

-0- Sarah

"When are we leaving for prom, Kaleb?" Dianah asked Kaleb as we sat down and ate our noodles and various form of Asian food, I personally stuck to some noodles and orange chicken.

"Let them eat." I said and pointed my fork at Dianah who got a noodle thrown at her.

"Fine." She let out.

Maya giggled and struggled with her chop sticks.

"Why don't you use a fork?" My father asked.

"No thank you, I used to be able to do this." Maya replied.

"Yeah, when you were ten." Kaleb said and took Maya's chop sticks and used them to pick up some food from Maya's plate and feed her with it.

"Cool! Lisa said. "Kaleb, can you teach us how to use those?"

"Sure." He said and leaned over and spent the next five minutes showing the twins how to hold the chop sticks while Maya pretend not to be watching.

I had to keep Dianah from staring at Kaleb all night. It was easy to see when she had a crush on a guy as she would only think about that. "Stop looking at him." I muttered.

"I can't." She replied and put some noodles in her mouth.

"He has a girlfriend." I reminded her.

"Sadly." She replied.

"You do know that Kaleb is the kind of guy that wouldn't cheat on his girlfriend, right?"

"Why do you think I like him?"

"You're hopeless."

The night went on and my mother was the first one to say that she was full. My sisters were next, followed by Dianah and Leo. My father and Maya went on for a little longer but were done about three minutes later. Everyone stared at me and Kaleb as we came back with our third plate of food and ate it. All-you-can-eat buffets always came down to us and it was normally Kaleb who won.

I ate our noodles and various foods and Kaleb followed.

"What are they doing?" Maya asked Leo, who was sitting next to her.

"They always have eating contests. Who knows where all that food goes."

It took five minutes but I admitted defeat and Kaleb did his victory dance then stopped as the food showed signs of coming back up.

"You guys are dumb..." My mother said.

"He's dumb." I said at the same time that Kaleb said "she's dumb."

We all talked for another half an hour before leaving, it was mostly my parents asking Maya questions.

"So how long have you and Kaleb been together, Maya?" My mother asked while my father picked at an egg role.

"We've been together since both of us were 9." She said.

"Really?" Kaleb asked.

"Yeah, I first saw you when I fell off the roof and broke my arm." Maya said.

"Oh yeah, I carried you to your mother and she thought that I attacked you so she threw a box of latex gloves at me and yelled for me to get out."

Maya giggled.

"And when are you going to get a boyfriend, Chika?" My father asked me.

"Dad!" I let out.

"What? I'm just asking." He replied.

"I'm working on it."

"We'll work harder; shoot even Leo beat you and he just got into girls." My father butted Leo's fist.

"Oh no, my baby boy isn't having a girlfriend when he's 14." My mother said.

"Why not? I got my first girlfriend when I was 8." My father said.

"Wasn't that one sided?" My mother suggested.

"Details don't matter." My father replied quickly as we all laughed. "My point is that I wasn't grandchildren."

"Dad, we all know that you would get mad at any guy who went out with me."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"What about Jon?"

"He was a jerk!"

"No be wasn't, he was nervous. What about Raymond?"

"Baboso was a nerd!"

"He was nice."

"And why haven't I met this guy you're going to prom with?"

"Honey..." My mother began.

"No, no, don't try to calm me down."

"I'm not; I was going to say that you have met him. Sarah brought him over a few times when they studied together."

"Oh yeah, cool kid." My father began. "Wait, he's taking you out? I don't like him."

"You just said you did." I pointed out.

"I never said anything, now it you'll excuse me, I've got to use the little boy's room." My father said and walked off.

"Dad's weird..." Kaleb said as my father walked off.

"Oh yeah." My mother, Lisa, Lana, Leo, and I said at the same time.

-0-

I spent the rest of the following day in a salon, with my mother and Dianah, as Dianah and I got our hair done for prom.

"Pues como lo quedes, m'ija?" The Hispanic lady who always did my hair asked me.

"No se." I replied.

"¿Pues como quieres que te lo haga? Mira al le hago y dime si sale bien, ¿vale?"

"Okay. ¿Pero me lo pintas?"

"¿Rojo?"

"Sí."

I heard Dianah struggling to describe what she wanted, not because the lady didn't understand but because she wanted to look like a combination of three cuts.

My mother walked over and examined my hair, while Juana got some stuff ready.

"You should let your brown hair grow out; you looked so cute, growing up, as a brunette."

"I am a brunette, aren't I?" I said and examined my red hair with brown roots.

"You should get it painted chestnut or something so it evens out when it grows back."

"That's a good idea."

The lady came back with the dye and I asked her to change it for the chestnut color so she went back.

"Question: we spend hours in a salon doing our hair and looking pretty but what do guys do?" I asked my mother.

She opened her mouth to reply then thought about it.

"I don't know..."

-0- Kaleb

I played some four player first person shooter with Maya, Leo, and my father. The screen was split into four different parts as we all shot the enemies.

"Now this is the life." My father said. "Video games, cookies and no women."

"Hey." Maya replied.

"Maya, you are the coolest chick I know. You have earned the title of boy a long time ago." My father said.

"Thanks?" Maya replied. "I guess?"

"Hey so what are we?" Lisa and Lana asked.

"You two are boys too, but just for a little bit, okay?"

"So weird." They said and walked away.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready, Kaleb?" Maya asked as she blew a guy's head apart.

"I don't know." I replied and looked at the clock.

We were going to go to prom at 5pm and it was 11:36am.

"How long will it take you to get dressed?" She asked.

"About twenty minutes." I replied.

"You guys have it easy. It's going to take your date and Sarah at least four to five hours."

"Woo! USA!" I said and stopped when she shoved me with her elbow.

"Dad, what's there to eat?" I asked.

He shrugged and made a sound that sounded kind of like "I don't know."

I opted out of the game and went to the freezer and heated up some Hot Pockets for the four of us.

-0-

I took a shower at 3:36 and was dressed in the black and white tux that my father wore for his wedding.

He helped me adjust it over and over again.

"When I was getting married." He began. "Your Uncle Roberto, and grandma fixed my suit about twenty times."

"I've never met them have I?" I asked.

"No, you haven't been with us long enough. Kaleb, regardless of what I might ever say, I am glad you're with us."

"Whoa that doesn't sound like you at all."

"I know. But seriously, I'm glad that you're here. I know that I'm not Sarah's real father, or yours either, but I want you to know that I'll always be here for both of you."

"Thanks...dad."

I hugged him then we quickly let go when someone turned the doorknob to my room.

Maya stood by the door.

"Maya, you really need to learn how to knock." I said and let my father adjust my cuffs.

She glared at me and I smiled because I knew what she was thinking; I had forgotten to knock several times when we were in the facility and I happened to walk in during some interesting times.

"I got you this." She said and held out a small plastic container that contained a corsage.

"Thank you." I said and took it while smiling at her.

"Your hair looks like a mess." She came over and combed it with one of the brushes in the dresser. "How do you get by with only having one brush?"

"Why would you need more?" I asked.

My father was about to reply but stopped when someone opened the front door.

"Mom's home." My father said and walked off.

"You're really cool with this?" I asked Maya when we were left alone.

"Yes..." She said and made sure to stress the S to show that I was starting to annoy her. "Trust me, I would tell you if I wasn't. Now go have fun, don't worry about me, imma get back. I need to check up on Oreo."

"Your son?" I taunted her.

"I don't know why he thinks I'm his mom. I'll see you later okay." She said and kissed me then walked out.

Oreo was a four year old male white lion boy. His real name was Oliver Moon: his mother died when he was three and he lost his father to child services when his father beat him for walking into the backyard with his lion parts showing. He arrived about two weeks ago and has been attached to Maya since day one as he reminds her of his mother so he calls her Ma as he can't seem to pronounce Maya.

I adjusted my hair and walked downstairs to where my entire family and Maya were chatting animatedly. I stepped out in front of the stairs and saw my sister: her long red hair was now chestnut brown and wavy. She smiled beaming my as everyone complemented her.

Dianah received equal praise with her curly shortened black hair. Both girls looked beautiful but I couldn't help but wonder why it took almost four hours.

Dianah looked at me then smiled widely and stared right at me. "What do you think, Kaleb?" She asked me.

All of my family turned to look at me.

"I..." I began and saw Maya signaling towards Dianah with her eyes. "You look great! Both of you."

Dianah squealed slightly and my father said something in Spanish, which made my siblings laugh.

"What?" Dianah asked. "What did he say?"

"Nothing." Sarah said.

"No tell me, Leo what did he say?" Dianah insisted.

"He said..." Leo began and repeated the sentence in Spanish which made Sarah, Lisa, and Lana laugh. Leo's voice now had somewhat of a base tone, almost like mine.

"You're mean." Dianah stated.

"I know." Leo replied and walked away.

-0-

Prom began at 5pm: it was now 5:34pm and we just pulled up to the school as my sister and Dianah needed more time to put on their dresses. Make-up was applied and re-applied and altered. Made me glad to be a guy.

I drove dad's SUV as Sarah nor Matt, Sarah's date, couldn't drive and Dianah, who could but, reminded me that girls don't drive to the prom.

-0- Sarah

I fell out of the SUV but was saved from hitting the floor by Matt who grabbed my hand.

"You cluts." He said and helped me up.

"Sorry." I said. "Haven't worn a dress in years."

"You should do it more often, you look good." He replied.

"You think so?"

"Of course."

We all walked over to the door that Kaleb led us to. Dianah had instinctively wrapped her arm around Kaleb's so I mimicked her and did the same with Matt.

"You don't have any idea what you're doing do you?" Matt asked me.

I laughed and shook my head.

"Just follow my lead." He said and led me in.

Students were dancing as someone played hip-hop on their MP3 player. Different colored lights dimmed and brightened at random to the speed of the song playing.

I tried keeping up with Dianah and Kaleb but I haven't walked in high heels in years so I kept stepping incorrectly so I silently thanked Matt for walking slowly.

We finally caught Dianah with them after they got a table for us as Kaleb brought us some soda.

I took a cup and drank it slowly as it occurred to me that I had no idea how to dance.

People applauded as the band took their place on stage.

"Sorry we're late; Shire forgot to put gas in our van." The singer said.

"I was too busy doing your mom!" Shire, the drummer, replied.

People laughed at the act that, Dianah swore that she hear the members practice week ago.

The band began to play something that had the word Baby too many times so the four of us made a game of counting how many times the word came out.

"I counted 43." I said.

"Me too." Dianah added.

"I got 45." Matt said.

"Really? I got 39." Kaleb admitted.

"This is nice and all but I want to dance." Dianah said and stood up then pulled Kaleb to his feet.

The band began to play something fast and had already used the words baby, word, and girl, five times by the beginning chorus.

I saw Stephanie walking up to Matt and me then turn when she saw Kaleb walking by.

"Sarah are you okay?" Matt asked as he came back with some punch.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Do you want to dance?"

"No it's okay."

"Why not?"

"No reason."

"You can't dance can you?"

"How is it that you know so much about me all the time?"

He sighed and sat down next to me.

"Do you like me Sarah?" He asked me.

"Whoa." I said. "Where did that come from?"

"I've wondered that myself for years now. I wanted to ask you out but I never find a good time. Last time I tried, you ended up finding out that you were..."

"Adopted?" I added.

"Yeah. I met you in the fifth grade and I feel like I barely know you. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite band? What kind of guy do you like? Nothing I don't know any of that stuff. Do you know why Stephanie talks to you the way she does?"

"No."

"She thinks that you take me for granted and only talk to me when you want something. She is a bitch about it, yes, but she is really nice when you get to know her. Both she and I do not have siblings so we ended growing up together. I kept asking her to find stuff out for me and when you wouldn't tell her, she got mad and started picking on you."

"She never talked to me so I wasn't about to answer her barrage of questions."

"She doesn't hate you, Sarah. She wants to like you but she thinks that you're not right for me."

"Matt..." I began.

"I'm sorry for unloading all this on you but I was hoping that I would be able to bring you to prom while being your boyfriend and not just a friend."

"Matt, I never knew you felt that way. I'm sorry but...I'm different, Matt. I grew up different and anyone I get with will have to accept that."

"No, Sarah. I'm different." Matt said and stared at me.

"Different?" I asked him.

He sighed heavily then got up and walked out through the double doors.

I stared at him and raised an eyebrow then looked at Kaleb and Dianah who were lost in between the crowd. I turned and saw Stephanie staring at me as I stood up and walked out.

Matt looked at me as he leaned on the wall next to the doors. He looked away and stared at the moon.

"Matt." What do you want me to say?"

"I don't want you to say anything, Sarah." He replied and looked at me.

"Matt." I haven't had anyone in my life since the seventh grade and that only lasted for a month.

"Which you called off. Why did you break up with Jake?"

"He...didn't understand." I said and turned from him.

"What didn't He understand?"

"I'm different, Matt. I'm not like you or Stephanie."

"Oh no, you're not like me."

I scoffed loudly and began to walk back inside.

Matt grabbed my hand which made me turn to look at him.

"I'm sorry. Listen...what if...what if you found out that a person wasn't normal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well some people are special, are they not?"

"Yeah?"

"What if you found out that I had some...parts that didn't belong on a boy's body?"

I looked him up and down then squinted.

"You're not going to tell me you have ovaries or something are you?" I replied, trying for a joke but he simply stared at me.

"Forget it, you won't understand." He said and went back to staring at the moon.

"Trust me, Matt, I can understand a lot because I grew up the way I did."

"Promise that you won't freak out." He said.

"There is nothing you can show me that'll freak me out, unless you pull down your pants. Then I might react negatively."

He turned to look at me as I gazed into his brown eyes that slowly shifted to a green while the pupil changed to be more of a dog's shape. Two dark brown medium sized ears popped out of his head as a large dark brown tail extruded from his back.

"Please don't scream." He said.

I opened my mouth to say something but I was speechless. I grew up thinking that I was the only person with animal parts. That changed when I met Kaleb but I never expected this.

"Matt, I'm..." I began

"What the hell are you doing, Matt?" Someone screeched from behind me.

We both turned and saw Stephanie staring at Matt with the widest eyes I've ever seen.

"Stephanie, I can explain." Matt started.

Stephanie pushed me out of the way and covered Matt's head with her purse until he changed back then began to hit him with it.

"I thought we agreed that we would keep that between us, why are you bringing her into this?" Stephanie grumbled.

"I had to tell her." Matt replied.

"No you didn't! You didn't have to tell her anything."

"Guys." I let out.

Stephanie and Matt turned to look at me and gasped at the same time as they saw my cat ears and tail.

"Sarah...you're...a..." Stephanie began.

"Cat..." Matt finished and reached to touch my ears.

"What's going on?"

I turned to see Kaleb staring cautiously at me while Dianah held her hand over her mouth.

"Kaleb, I..." Matt began.

"Don't you fucking tell anyone!" Kaleb let out. "I'll kick your ass if you do."

"Kaleb, relax!" I said and had to grab my brother so he didn't punch Matt. "Whoa, Kaleb, you were always chill and relaxed, stop this!"

"Sarah, why would you show anyone else?" Dianah asked me. "People don't understand, remember?"

"I understand." Matt said and made his dog parts show again."

Kaleb automatically stopped fighting me and just stared.

"Holy...crap..." Kaleb and Dianah said at the same time."

-0-

"I was born like this." Matt explained once we got back in and sat at our table. "Mom and dad had a big fight one day and mom ran off and had a one night stand with one of her friends that happened to be half dog. She moved back in with dad a week later after they had made up and I was born nine months later."

"What did they fight about?" Dianah asked.

"Mom can't have babies. Mom and dad tried for years with no success and it was by some miracle that it happened that one time. They stopped after mom had me as she almost died." Matt replied.

"We hid his secret for years until now." Stephanie said. "I didn't want to risk losing him to some freak organization. So I was a bitch to anyone that he got close to. I was hoping to stumble onto someone that was like him at some point."

"Wow, you're really caring." Kaleb said.

"I have to be." She replied.

"Sorry I called you fatuous."

"It's okay. I knew what it meant, by the way."

"Really?" I asked. "You could have fooled me."

"That's an act I do." Stephanie said. "I needed to be a hard ass to be able to protect Matt. So I became what I am. I'm not happy about it either."

"What about your friends?" I asked. "Are they playing along too?"

"Victoria and Susanna?" She asked. "Those two are the thickest bimbos I've ever seen. God I can't wait to graduate and tell them to shove it."

"I'm sorry I hit you, Stephanie." I said.

"It's okay. You fight like a man though." She replied.

"That's what I've been saying for years!" Dianah said.

We all laughed and I turned to smile at Matt.

"I better go. I can't be seen with you guys remember?" She said and kissed her cousin in the cheek and walked off.

"She is really nice, when you get to know her." Dianah said.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Dianah, can you join me while I get some punch?" Kaleb said and pulled Dianah up by her arm and left me and Matt alone.

"Sarah, listen, I..." He began but I kissed him in the mouth quickly.

"Tan." I said.

"Huh?" He asked.

"My favorite color is tan. My favorite band is Pennies for Pigeons. My favorite kind of guy is the ones who understand that I'm half animal." I smiled at him.

"Sarah..." Matt began.

"Ask me already, sheesh."

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" He asked while blushing a little.

"Sure...doggy." I said.

He kissed me and I let him, my boyfriend, do it.

-0-

"I'll wear those shoes and you will wear that dress, whoa. Kiss me!" The band sang while Matt and I were close together in the dance floor.

Kaleb and Dianah were nearby as they held each other during the song.

I still had no idea how to do it but Matt said that all we needed to do was to be together and to shift our weight back and forth.

"Thank you." Matt said.

"For what?" I asked.

"For understanding. Nobody else would have."

"No problem." I said and let him spin me as the song ended.

"The next song is something old, again, but let's face it; music today sucks." The band singer said.

Some students agreed while other booed and threw things.

The band members dodged pencils and cups but made sure to catch a random thong that flew up there then dropped it and jumped back in horror when it was a male's thong.

"Hey, can you dance with Dianah, right quick. I think I owe Kaleb a dance." I said.

"Sure." He said and I went over to pry Dianah from Kaleb's arms.

The band singer's girlfriend walked up to the stage and a duet started.

"Do you remember when we didn't care?" The girl started.

"We were just two kids that took the moment when it was there..." The singer continued.

I took Kaleb's hand and he pulled me close.

"I'm glad that you're in my life." Kaleb said.

"I am too. You opened my eyes to many things. I don't feel as lonely is I did." I replied as we rocked back and forward. So Maya's really cool with you taking Dianah out?" I asked him.

"Yeah, she's a real cool chick." Kaleb said.

"Don't take her for granted." I told him.

"I don't." He said.

We both rocked back and forward for about a minute as the couple sang back and forth. I didn't know the song but it sounded like it was something that my parents listened to.

"I love you, Sarah. I love you and Lisa and Leo and Lana and mom and dad." Kaleb said.

"We love you, Kaleb. I love you. You're my brother." I replied and held him closer.

"And you're my sister." He said.

We both let our tails extend, mine lifted my dress while his un-tucked his shirt slightly, and we wrapped them together for the rest of the dance.

The end.

Wow normal people go out during their Saturday nights but not me. Nope, I stayed up till 1:49am on Saturday to finish this here story. That just shows how much I love you guys. This is the end of this story. It is still called Untitled and I still need a title but I'll worry about that when I'm fully awake. I am going to take a small break from writing fan fictions. Don't worry, don't worry damn it! I will come back, later. For now I am going to go back and re-read my other stories and check their spelling and grammar and add some detail as there are some issues! I already have plans for another story, although it will be an actual fiction and not a fan fiction (so look for me in Fictionpress). But first imma try and look for some pointers on writing.

"Wait, what?"

I know, I know, it sounds weird but I have never attended a writing class. To be honest I learn to write by reading published fiction but I think that I'll benefit from taking some time off and actually trying to learn something. I will see you guys later, thank you for the love and attention.

Goodnight.

Vee, the Aztec_Moogle

Sent from my iPhone


	10. Bonus Chapter

_Bonus chapter_: **_Day in the Life of a Redhead_**

I woke up and felt something heavy on top of me as I tried to get out of bed. I grunted then sighed when I saw the man who was my husband lay out across the bed and top half was over my mid-section.

"Carlos..." I said.

He continued snoring and kicked slightly which pushed me a little towards the edge of the bed.

"Carlos, get up, you're sleeping on top of me again." I added.

"What?" He asked when he snorted awake.

"Can you get off? I have to make breakfast."

He rolled off enough for me to get out of bed then lay diagonally over the mattress.

"Can I have some breakfast?" He mumbled.

"Only if you get up." I replied as I put on some sweat pants, took off my sleeping gown, and put on a t-shirt.

"Never mind." He said and went back to sleep.

I smiled and combed my long wavy, red, hair with my hand to remove the ones that tangled overnight, as I walked into the bathroom and began to brush my teeth and realized that I was using Carlos' toothbrush and switched to mine.

I stared at the mirror as I did and examined my face. Other than it being pale and full of freckles, I saw some wrinkles, Carlos insisted that it was just my imagination but I could see the beginning of one.

"Aging does that to you." I assured myself and spat the toothpaste into the sink then made use of the stool.

Ten minutes later, I was on my way down the stairs and into the kitchen, my domain. I shared the kitchen, that morning, with Madam, our female tabby cat, who slept on the sink again.

"Madam, get off the sink..." I yawned and slapped the cat lightly on the ear.

She lifted her head and opened her mouth as wide as she could then meowed at me.

"Meow to you too, get out." I said picking the cat up and put her on the floor, where she began to stretch then walk off.

I turned the range on and put a pan on one of the smaller cook spaces and cracked and egg on it.

I yawned again and threw some sausage into the microwave as I heard a howl come from upstairs.

"There goes Sarah's first alarm." I said to nobody.

Madam brushed up against my leg and I looked down at her. She stared up at me and meowed once again.

"You hungry?" I asked.

She replied by staring up at me.

I walked over to the end overhead cabinet and pulled out a box of cat food that was almost out and poured some into her bowl.

I knew for a fact that the box had more last night. I also knew that Kaleb had dared Sarah to eat some yesterday. I also knew that some milk was missing and that a bowl was in the sink so I guess that she went through with it.

"She is half cat." I reminded myself.

Kaleb's alarm went off and rang for about a minute before he shut it off. I heard him wake Leo up then walk into the hall shower.

The twins' alarm went off next in unison, of course. One alarm played a beat while the other was just someone singing. Both alarms were from the same song but they made it so that the music and the singing would sync when their arms went off.

Some Mexican music started as the shower went on, meaning that Carlos was up.

Leo walked down the stairs, his copper hair was a mess and he still had his pj's on.

"Morning." He said.

"Morning, did you take a shower?" I asked him as I put an egg on a plate and placed it in front of Leo.

"Kaleb's in it, plus I took one last night."

"Take a shower after he's out."

"Okay." He said and began to cut the egg.

I continued cooking eggs until Sarah walked down.

Her long chestnut hair was a mess and she wore her sleeping clothes as she dragged her feet into the kitchen. Her sleeping shirt was tangled slightly and some of her mid-section was showing.

"Good morning sunshine." I told her.

She mumbled something and planted herself into the seat. I placed a plate of food in front of her and smiled when she stared at it for a while.

"What time did you go to sleep?" Leo asked her.

"Huh? Three I think... Mom can I have some coffee?" She asked as I placed a cup of coffee by the plate. She mumbled something that sounded like thank you and sipped on the liquid.

Kaleb walked down the stairs while grunting as Lisa and Lana giggled while holding onto his legs.

"Grab him!" One of the twins said.

"I am! You grab him." The other replied.

Kaleb was strong enough to drag them across the house as they held onto him, hell he could probably pick me up and throw me across the street, but he made a show out of it to entertain them. They seemed to have really warmed up to him in the last year.

Kaleb and Sarah are adopted, both are their own siblings. They were separated at birth and we, Carlos and I, ended up with Sarah but we met Kaleb a year ago. Kaleb was independent enough to not need us but he never had a family so he lived with us. To be honest, I didn't trust him to begin with but he's as noble and caring for us as we are for him. He's the complete opposite of Sarah in most aspects. He is polite and hardworking while Sarah...falls asleep in the table.

I slammed my palm on the table and she bolted upright immediately.

"I wasn't asleep." She said.

I love all five of my kids; Kaleb, Sarah, Leo, Lisa, and Lana. They're my family.

Lisa and Lana stood up and fought for a seat. Both girls were getting bigger but still thought they could do the stuff they did a year ago, like share a seat at the table. Lana gave up and went to sit to the adjacent chair. They were hard to tell apart but Lana slouched slightly when sitting.

Leo finished his breakfast and went upstairs to take a shower while Sarah did her best to stay awake.

"Ready for midterms, Sarah?" Kaleb asked.

She groaned and looked at him.

"You stayed up as long as I did, why do you have so much energy?" Sarah asked him.

"Because I didn't stay up studying." He replied and pulled his cell phone out and sent a text message, probably to his girlfriend.

"What were you doing then?" I asked him.

"Texting Maya. She can't handle drama and there's a lot in the facility. She says hi by the way." He replied.

"I like Maya." I said. "She is nice and very helpful, unlike some other girls I know."

Lisa and Lana pretended to not have heard me while Sarah snoring lightly while she sat upright.

"How do I look?" Carlos asked when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

He had shaved and combed his curly hair and even trimmed his mustache and goatee. He also had some new clothing on and wore some perfume.

"Ooh, looking good." I told him.

"I knew you'd like it." He said and walked over to kiss me. "I might or might not have put some of your perfume on by mistake."

"Dad smells like a girl." Lana commented.

"So do you, Thing Number 2." Carlos said and kissed his twin daughters on the forehead. "Morning, Kaleb." He butter Kaleb's fist. "Good morning...zombie Chica."

"I wasn't asleep." She repeated and flinched.

"Where's breakfast?" He asked as he sat down.

I placed a plate of food in front of him and a bottle of Tapatio sauce by the plate.

"Now this is breakfast." He said and dug in.

It was just a typical day. They all were. Boring even.

"Imma go take a shower right quick." Sarah slurred and dragged her way up the stairs.

"What's up with her?" Carlos asked.

"Girly time." Kaleb said.

"Oh."

"No." I corrected him. "It's her midterm and stayed up late studying."

"Wow. Dibs on her leftovers." He said and took the rest of Sarah's food from her abandoned plate.

"Carlos, what time are you coming home?" I asked him.

"Let's see..." He began, "I leave work around the same time but then I have to go visit my other family, they get lonely without me, and then I might come here, why?"

I turned around and stared at him, arms crossed and hip cocked (it had become a natural gesture).

"You used to be fun, Lizzie, remember that? 3:30." He said and continued eating his egg.

"Imma fun your head with my foot, if you don't stop acting like a fool, Hells bells I'm starting to sound like you. I ask because my parents want to come over for dinner."

"Cool, I'll make sure to leave on time." He replied and ate his food.

"How is Uncle Robert?" Lana asked.

"Good, he's back from TJ. He said that he almost got hit by a truck for calling someone a pendejo." Carlos replied.

Lisa and Lana giggled.

"What's a pendejo?" Kaleb asked.

Carlos is Hispanic and showed most of our children Spanish. Kaleb had only been with us for a year so he doesn't know too much. I have been married to him for about 17 years now and I had picked some of it up.

"It's something that shouldn't be said around the kitchen table." I replied as I walked over to take some plates.

"Relax, woman." Carlos said and pulled me onto his lap. "It's not like that's the most explicit thing that has happened on this table.

"Eww!" Lisa and Lana shrieked at the same time then stood up.

"What?" Carlos asked. "You two were made on this table!"

"EWW!" They let out as they covered their ears and ran up the stairs.

"One of you was the other was in the shower!" He yelled up after them.

Kaleb laughed and followed them. "Smooth, dad." He said and butter Carlos' fist on his way out of the kitchen.

"So romantic..." I said sarcastically, feeling myself blush, and began to stand up.

"They call me Señor Romántico." He replied and pulled me back down.

"Alright Señor Romántico, I have to make lunches." I tried getting up again but he pulled me down.

I groaned and kissed him for a few seconds before he let me stand back up. "Some would say you're controlling and- ah!" I began but stopped when he spanked me.

"You know you like it." He interrupted.

"You're going to be late."

-0-

"Bye mom!" Lisa and Lana said in unison as they ran off to the middle school entrance doors.

"Have fun you too." I yelled after them, which made Sarah jolt awake.

"I'm up." She announced and yawned.

"You need some rest, Sarah." I said and drove off.

Most morning I would take Sarah, Lisa, and Lana to school while Kaleb would drop off Leo, whose school was about three miles further. I didn't mind doing it but waiting for 3 teenagers and twin pre-teens never moved along as it should.

"Mom, what time is it?" Sarah asked.

"6:56."

"Imma crash for a bit, wake me up when we get there, please."

"You got it."

I drove towards Sarah's collage but pulled into a Dunkin Doughnuts and walked in.

A young man turned to look at me from behind the counter and smiled at me.

"Good morning, Sarah's mom, how are you this morning?" Matt, Sarah's boyfriend, asked me.

"I'm good, Matt. How about you?" I replied.

"Bored! Little to no customers, other than those kids playing that arcade, and Sarah isn't texting me back."

"Yeah, she's not conscious enough to be doing that."

"Huh?"

"She stayed up late studying for midterms. She's in the car, asleep. She snores, you know."

"I know."

I turned to look at him and raised an eye brow, or at least tried to.

"I mean...no I didn't know." He corrected himself.

"Uh-huh. Can I just have three sugar doughnuts and two large coffees?" I said.

"You got it." He said and pulled out a small bag and got three sugar doughnuts and slid them into the bag.

"Two sugar, caramel creamer, right?"

"You got it."

"How's your husband?"

"Good, he's at work. He was really annoyed the other day, did you beat him in that video game he likes?"

"Prices of War? I played with him and your sons, some campers kept killing him."

"Campers?" I asked him.

"People who wait for you to pass by."

"Oh, how much do you need?"

"Six twenty-seven."

I pulled out the wallet I kept with me and went to pull out my card and remembered that Carlos had used it to buy something from the auto part store and never gave it back. I sighed when I saw that I only had four bucks in cash.

"Carlos has my card." I sighed.

"Don't worry about it, it's on me." Matt said.

"Thanks, Matt, you're a life saver." I said and leaned over the counter, so he could hug me, then began to walk out. "Oh, I almost forgot, Saturday is Lisa's and Lana's birthday. I'm not sure if Sarah's told you."

"No, I haven't really talked to her too much this week, she's been busy studying."

"Good thing you're not the jealous type." I began. "We wouldn't mind if you came."

"I'll be there. Hey, weird question but..."

"Yeah?"

"Umm... Never mind."

"Okay? Didn't know you to be the shy type, Matt."

"It's just that... Remember that kid I came over with a few weeks ago?"

"The one with the glasses?"

"Yeah."

"What about him?"

"Well... He's my cousin and he's in one of your twin daughters' class and...Well he kinda asked me to give him her number."

I stared at him for a second.

"I haven't. Of course, I wanted to ask you guys first."

"Well don't ask Carlos, he'll probably throw you through a wall if you do."

"He almost kicked my butt when I came over while holding Sarah's hand."

"He likes you, but he has a lot of Mexican traditions, or so he says. I just think that he's overprotective."

"He's a little weird sometimes."

I raised my eye brow at him again.

"I mean it like if I'm saying that he's a character, not that he's weird because he's Mexican, I mean I love Mexicans, one of my friends is Mexican."

"You do know that most of his weirdness rubbed off on Sarah right?"

"Yes, I mean no... I mean yes." He sputtered. "Does her dad talk to himself too?"

"All the time. He answers himself too. He swears that he's singing. I just pretend to be asleep most nights and listen to him argue with himself. He's talked about you in his dreams, by the way."

"Really, what does he say?"

"Who knows. Half of what he says in inaudible while some of it is one Spanglish. He has called you 'Sarah's camote' though."

"What's that?"

I shrugged. "Who knows, I'm only starting to understand him."

"So do you mind if I...you know, give my cousin her number." He asked me.

"I don't but both of them are still kids, I don't think that either of them are too interested in dating yet. Which one is he ingested in, stars and skies...I feel like I'm trying to give away a dog or something..." I said.

"I don't know... I'll have to find out."

"Make sure you do. I'll tell Sarah you said hi by the way." I said and began to walk away.

"Thanks Mrs. C." He said as I walked out and two blond girls walked in, both showing more skin that I would.

-0-

I drove home after dropping Sarah off at her collage. I noticed Kaleb's bike parked in one of the motorcycle parking spaces and relaxed a little as it meant that he had made it safely.

Sarah had finally awakened by the time I dropped her off.

I headed towards the gym for yoga with Janet Willis, Sarah's friend's mother and Lee-Ann Taylor, the principal in Sarah's high school last year.

People think that yoga is an easy exercise and that it shouldn't be taken seriously but it's intense, especially when you have friends to do it with you.

The session went fine, as always. The three of us would stick to the intermediate classes; there was no way that I was going to be able to do some of the poses that some of the people in the advance class would.

Class ended 90 minutes later and the three of us parted ways. Janet wanted to hang out but Lee-Ann had to get back the high school and I needed to go shopping for groceries.

-0-

I spent an hour and a half looking for stuff to buy since I always had to make some variations to the food I made; Carlos loved spicy food, Leo hated onions, Lisa and Lana hated meat while Sarah hated anything with dairy. The only normal one was Kaleb as he would eat anything that I placed in front of him.

A boy ran passed me as his mom ran after him. The woman looked at me then went after her son.

"Weird-o..." I muttered and kept walking.

My phone rang so I fumbled in my purse to pull it out.

"Carlos?" I asked as I motioned my hair out of the way and put the phone up to my ear.

"The one and only. Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm at the store; hey do you think that my parents would like them enchiladas you like?"

"Sure, I mean they like Mexican food right?"

"I think so..."

"Cool, how much money do we have?"

"Enough, why?"

"Because they're having a pop cluck, or whatever you light skins call it, tomorrow and I said that I'd bring some pupusas."

"It's called a pot luck, weird-o and why would you bring those? I can make you some of my potato salad."

"Cual potato salad, there's going to be a million pounds of that already. So we're cool if I buy like three dozen?"

"Yeah we're fine. Are you the only one that is going to bring Mexican food?"

"Pupusas aren't Mexican food, Lizzie, they're Salvadorian food. My old neighbor, at the apartment, made them for me a few times. Messes be awesome!"

"Okay, sorry Mr. Geographical."

"Hey that was my stripped name. Thanks m'ija. Love you."

"Love you, too." I replied and kept the phone up onto my ear until he hung up.

"No, baby, it's not your fault... What are you looking at?" A woman snapped at the end of the aisle, with the meat.

I pushed my cart over and saw a small crowd of people gathered around the side of one of the coolers, next to one of the double doors that led into the back.

"Your kid is a freak lady!" A man laughed out.

"Ehh what's up, doc?" Another man taunted.

"Shut up..." The woman said.

"What's going on?" I asked a woman in the back.

"Don't know. Something about some kid who came running back here." The woman said. "Some of the men have been making fun of him though."

I moved over and saw the mother that ran by hunched over her kid as she covered him.

"Does your kid want a carrot?" Another man laughed out.

The woman made a small sound as the hood that she wore over the boy slipped slightly and revealed the boy. He was a regular sized boy with some blue jeans and a plain blue shirt. Slender figure and jet black hair with...rabbit ears coming out of his head.

Some of the crowd laughed and pointed as the mother struggled to hide the boy again.

I looked around as the store's management just looked over.

"What's going on?" A man said and walked over.

"Just looking at this freak." Another man replied.

"That freak is my son." The man said and tried pushing passed the man.

The crowd made it difficult for him to pass but he finally got through to his wife and son.

The crowd laughed and pointed at the boy with the rabbit ears.

"You assholes need to leave him alone." I heard a voice say.

People turned to look at the new person and to my surprise it was Kaleb with his girlfriend, Maya.

A good portion of the crowd dispersed but four men and a woman stayed behind.

"Kaleb." I said.

"Hi mom." Kaleb replied and let go of Maya's hand but kept his bicycle helmet on the other. He started wearing it because I kept bugging him whenever he went out without one.

"Who the hell are you?" A man asked and walked up to Kaleb, who didn't budge an inch.

"You guys need to leave." Kaleb replied.

"And who's going to make us? You?" He laughed out. "Why are you defending this freak anyway?"

Kaleb sighed and let his cat ears exclude from his head. "Because I'm one of them." He said.

The man flinched then threw a punch at Kaleb who simply moved out of the way and tripped the man by knocking his feet from under him with one foot.

"Maya, can you hold my hermit?" Kaleb said and handed the head gear over.

The man quickly got up and tried to catch Kaleb off guard but he simply shifted sideways, turned and knocked the man off his feet again.

A second man ran up to Kaleb who simply mule kicked him in the chest. The man hit the end wall and gasped loudly as the air was knocked out of him.

Another man began to walk up to me but I simply stuck my hand in my purse and pulled out a can of pepper spray and let the man have it full in the face, I was never a fighter.

The man screamed as the woman tried comforting him. She glared at me and took a step forward but I held the pepper spray out towards her and she stopped.

I heard Maya yelp and we all turned to see the first man holding Maya In a headlock and smiling stupidly.

"Not the best idea, man." Kaleb said. "She isn't in a happy mood today."

"Too bad." The man said and slowly began walking backwards. "I think that we'll have some fun with her. By the alley, what do you say boys?"

Kaleb slowly followed the group out and I walked behind him as they left the store and dragged Maya into a back alley.

"I wouldn't do that." Kaleb warned them.

"You can have her back when we're done with her." The man said and dragged Maya into the shadows as the other three men and the woman followed. One of the men was unbuckling his pants.

"Shouldn't we help her?" I asked Kaleb.

"Nah, we'd just get in the way. Plus she's having her...time...and she wants to kick someone's butt. She has wanted to for days now; she takes a lot of crap in the facility." Kaleb replied.

"She tells you when she's..."

"Yup."

"Wow I didn't tell your father until years after we were married."

"You guys need to tell me about that sometime, but first..." He put his hands on my waist and picked me up and moved me to his other side as one of the men was sent flying passed where I just was.

The other three men and the woman yelled as something snarled. One man ran out of the dark alley while wearing his shirt through one sleeve and his boxers. He didn't get half a dozen steps when a large furry hand reached out and pulled him back in. Some more yelling was heard and the woman ran out and headed towards me in panic so I sprayed her in the face with the pepper spray. She screamed as the furry hand reached out, grabbed her long blond ponytail and dragged her back in. The four yelled as I heard clothes tearing.

Half a minute later, a large dog walked out of the alley and just stood there on all fours.

"Good girl." Kaleb said and patted her on the head. "Who's the good doggy, you are! Yes you are."

The dog blew a raspberry at him then stood up on two feet and tugged on Kaleb's shirt.

"You tore your clothing again didn't you?" He asked.

"Maybe... If I knew that I would be changing into my werewolf form then I would have worn something loose fitting." The dog said in a small growl.

Kaleb took his dress shirt off, but kept his muscle shirt underneath, and helped the werewolf into it. The shirt was tight around the werewolf's fur and barely covered half of the midsection.

The werewolf slowly shifted and shrunk until the fur changed to the pink tone of Maya who now wore a lose fitting shirt. She wasn't very tall to start off with so the shirt passed her hips and almost went down to her knees.

"Hi Mrs. Cera." Maya said when she was fully human again.

"Are you okay, Maya?" I asked her.

"Me? Yeah I'm fine. Better than fine actually. I've been stressed lately and taking my frustration on these jerks had really helped." She replied in that sweet innocent voice that she had.

"Any blood?" Kaleb asked.

"Nope, some pee though. One of them wet themselves."

Kaleb took Maya's hand in his and led her back into the alley as I followed. My eyes took some time to adjust to the gloom as we walked in. Some sobbing and terrified mumbled could be heard from deeper into the alley. We were halfway into the alley when someone cried out.

"You sure got them good." Kaleb said as he stopped in front of the four people who were tied together, in their underwear, on the ground with all of their clothing in one long daisy chain as it held them all back to back.

They all lay in a small puddle of urine as they all trembled at the sight of Maya. All except for the woman who was weeping with swollen eyes.

"You trash deserve what you got. Speaking of which." Kaleb said and walked over and picked the four people up, with only a skill grunt, as Maya lifted the lid of a dumpster as Kaleb tossed them in it over the filth. Maya closed the metal lid loudly and dusted her hands.

"You guys make a great team." I said and began walking away.

"Where you going?" Kaleb asked.

"I left my cart of stuff and I better get back before some kid starts putting it back."

We walked out of the alley and back into the store as one of the employees was asking if my cart belonged to anyone. The parents of the kid with the bunny ears slowly walked out of the family bathroom as I passed by.

"Oh it's you." I stated and stopped my cart.

"Hi." The man began. "I want to thank you for helping my wife."

"It's no problem" I told them. "You don't need to have them jerks messing with you like that."

"Well thank you, and your children for helping us." The woman said.

"Children? Oh yeah, he's my son, she's his girlfriend."

"He had...um..."

"Cat ears?" Kaleb asked as he and Maya walked over and dropped an assorted number of bags of junk food onto my cart.

"You two are not getting all those." I told him.

"Blame Maya." Kaleb laughed and hid behind his girlfriend.

Maya simply smiled sheepishly at me.

I sighed. "Yes my son has cat ears as well as the appetite of the entire US population."

"How...um...how do you hide them so well?" The woman asked.

"Practice." Kaleb said. "Why would you want to hide them anyway? Your son's rabbit ears are part of him."

"Well yes...but they're not normal, no offense..." The man said.

"It's true but there's no need to hide them." Kaleb said and let his cat ears out again as Maya followed with her werewolf ears.

People around us stared as they passed by. A woman even walked into a metal post because she was looking at them.

The boy slowly walked out and saw both Kaleb and Maya and quickly ran over and hugged Kaleb's leg.

"Hey buddy. How are you? Good? Those are some cool looking ears you have there, can I touch them?"

The small boy slowly nodded then giggled as Kaleb passed his hands on the boy's ears. Then reached up as Kaleb bent down so the boy could touch his.

"We also have tails but little kids like to pull on them so we don't let them out too often."

"How are you two so comfortable with...your extra parts?"

"Because they're part of us. Kind of like when a person has an extra finger or something. It's different but were not gonna hide it." Kaleb said and held Maya's hand. "Were Darkstalkers. But we're also people."

The couple just looked at them.

"One of my daughters also has cat ears and we never had her hide them... Well we did but we never made her feel bad when she had them around us. We took her to a day care and they helped her with her extra parts."

"I'll be happy to help him in the facility if you guys want. Adding a child to my duties is no big deal, it's when I am given a grown person that it gets weird."

"That would be great Ms..." The woman began.

"Mrs... I mean...oops..." Maya smiled sheepishly at me.

"Mrs.? Wait what?" I asked.

"Great way of ruining the surprise." Kaleb said then sighed and grabbed Maya's hand and held it out to me.

A ring was around Maya's wedding finger. It wasn't anything overly expensive but it was beautiful.

"You guys are getting married?" I let out in a higher voice than I thought I would.

"Surprise..." Maya said weakly. "Oh man, I'm bad at keeping secrets..."

I quickly walked up to both of them and hugged to them to me.

"Congratulations." The woman said to Kaleb and Maya.

-0-

I sat on my kitchen table alongside Terry and Zoe Healings a few hours later as we talked. Kaleb and Maya went out to buy some dinner for us as I most likely wouldn't be able to cook anything. Vincent, the small boy with the rabbit ears, lay in the living room floor with Lisa and Lana as they colored and drew.

"This is you!" Lana said as she held up a piece of paper with a crayons drawing of a boy with rabbit ears and the word Vincent H. written on the side.

"Your daughters seem to like Vincent." Terry said.

"Oh yeah, they make friends easily." I replied. "They color a lot too. They have pictures of all their friends in their room. I've been trying to get them off the crayon and onto the pencil but they don't like it."

"You have a very pretty family." The woman said.

"Thank you." I replied.

"I want to thank you once again, Mrs. Cera, for everything but we must go." The man said. "We have to head home. Vincent has homework he has to get done. He is homes schooled."

"Well we're here any time you need us. We're just a phone call away." I replied and stood up as they did.

"Thank you." The woman said. "Come on, Vincent, we have to go.

"Okay." He said and stood. "Thanks for playing with me, Lisa and Lana." He bowed slightly and both girls giggled as his ears bounced slightly.

Vincent ran up to his parents as they reached the door. "Congratulations on your son's marriage." The woman said.

"Thank you." I replied.

They turned and began walking away when the twins ran passed me with pictures on their hands.

"Wait!" They said in unison. "You forgot your pictures."

They handed Vincent the drawings then giggled slightly and each kissed one of his cheeks then ran passed me and up the stairs.

I laughed and held my hand over my mouth as the boy stood there, completely dumbfounded as he touched his cheeks.

"Somebody's got a girlfriend." Terry sang.

"A pair of them it would seem." I said and waved them goodbye.

-0-

My parents arrived about an hour after Kaleb got home with some carry out Chinese food. He had dropped Maya off and went to pick Sarah up, as I actually forgot that I needed to get her.

Carlos got home a little after and he actually brought some flowers for my mother.

We all sat down to eat the food and talk. It was nice and relaxing actually. Carlos always got along with my dad, mostly because they were a lot alike. My mother was just happy to know that both her daughters were happily married. Mary, my older sister, lived in Utah with her husband and two kids. We talked on the phone a lot too.

"Kaleb gave me some good news today." I said.

"Really?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, dad, I asked Maya to marry me." Kaleb said.

Carlos made awe and happy noises but I knew that he was faking them, which meant that he already knew.

"Wait..." I said. "You knew."

"No...Yes...maybe." Carlos replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said and smacked him in the arm a few times.

"Ow." He began. "That kinda hurts. Because then it wouldn't be a surprise, M'ija. Stop hitting me."

I smacked him one more time the pouted. "You're not supposed to keep any secrets from me."

"I know, but he wanted to surprise you. Plus it isn't keeping a secret if one person doesn't know that there is a secret to keep."

"Did anyone else know?"

Sarah looked away and concentrated on her food as Kaleb did the same. Leo didn't look at me but had a suspicious look.

Lisa and Lana looked nervously at me.

"Girls, tell me. Who knew about it?"

"We don't know." They lied. "Seriously, do you know something, Lana?"

"No, Lisa, I don't know anything."

"Want me to tell your dad about Vincent?"

Both girls froze then blurted out. "Leo, Sarah, dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Berra from across the street." Both girls said alternately.

"Good going girls, now we're all in trouble. Wait...who is Vincent?" He asked.

Both girls shrunk into their seats quickly.

Carlos looked at me expectantly. I smiled back and quoted him. "It's not a secret if one person doesn't know that there isn't a secret to keep."

"That's not funny, Lizzy, who's Vincent?"

"I'm happy you're here with us tonight, mom and dad." I said to my parents and didn't pay any attention to Carlos.

"Liz, for real. Who's Vincent? I ain't playing anymore."

-0-

Night came around and I tied my hair into a ponytail and brushed my teeth.

"Well that was fun." Carlos said as he took his shoes off and sat on the bed.

"It was." I replied.

"You're not mad at me are you?"

"No. I mean I was but I understand."

"So who is Vincent?"

I smiled.

"That is something that you don't want to know. You know that you don't want to know."

"You're right." He said and removed his shirt and climbed into bed.

I joined him then kissed him before reminding him to brush his teeth. We lay in bed for about ten minutes before Carlos turning over.

"Hey." He said.

I turned around and he kissed me slowly. "I had fun today, with your parents. You should have them over more often."

"I can ask them for breakfast on Saturday if you want." I replied.

"Cool. Goodnight."

He kissed me then rolled over and lay there for a few minutes.

"Seriously, Lizzy, who's Vincent? It's bugging me."

I turned over and looked at him. "Do you promise me that you won't keep any more secrets from me, regardless of how big or small?"

He thought about it for a second. "I promise that I won't hide anything important from you."

I narrowed my eyes then reached down and grabbed his privates with my right hand.

"Ow, ow! What are you doing? Let go." Carlos let out.

"No matter how big or small." I repeated and squeezed.

"Ow, yes, no matter how big or small, damn Lizzy let go."

I let him go them smiled at him. "Thank you." I said and told him about my day and about the Healings and about their rabbit eared son and about how both girls kissed his cheek.

"So how tall is he?" Carlos asked when I was done.

"What? I don't know. Taller than the girls. 4'-8", 4'-9", maybe. Why?"

"Because imma go buy me a coffin that's 4'-9" right now. One with space for rabbit ears." He said and began to get up.

"Calm down. Both of them are at that age where they start to like boys. It had to happen sometime Carlos, come back to bed." I said as he stood in the room in his boxers.

He sighed as he lay back down.

"I know. I just wish that it wouldn't have happen until they were older, you know. If it happened when they were like 34 or 35 then I would accept it. Hell I'd probably be dead then and wouldn't care."

"You're so weird." I replied.

"You know you like it. Goodnight, Lizzy."

"Goodnight, grandpa." I said and smiled when he mumbled something in Spanish.

-0-

I woke up at the buzzing alarm. I tried to move my hand to turn it off then stopped when I couldn't feel my hands. As a 170 pound Mexican-American man lay over me.

I sighed then jerked once to get my left hand free. I fettered with it until feeling came back into it and hit the snooze on the alarm.

"Carlos..." I said.

He snored and turned his head so it rested fully on my right breast.

"Carlos, you slept on top of me again..."

The end.

-0-

Sorry guys I just had to make a bonus chapter. I felt like I didn't really focus on how random the family could be, especially Carlos. Hell I could probably create a full story on just the weird things he does. Before anyone asks, yes I based Carlos on me. At least some aspects of me. Maybe one day I'll go back and write what inspired each character of my stories, some scenarios have some before thought to. Who knows. Anywho, its 10:43 and I should head to bed. I hope that you've enjoyed my story(ies) as much as I've enjoyed writing them. Please let me know if you want to see more. I've got so many ideas. Now I'm babbling. Thanks for reading,

-Vee, The Aztec Moogle.


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